By Fabiana Banov, RPh, MS, PCCA Senior Formulation Pharmacist

Flavoring is a crucial part of compounding medication. After all, medicine cannot work if the patient won’t take it because they hate the taste. To help you with this important step in creating custom medicine for your patients, here are six general tips that can help in many situations.

How to Incorporate Insoluble Flavors

To best emulsify an insoluble flavor, add equal parts of the flavor and the emulsifying agent together in a small beaker and mix well. Then add 10 mL of the formula vehicle and mix well to incorporate them all together. Then add this mixture to the final formula and mix again. This will ensure an easy incorporation of the flavor with the vehicle.

2 Key Emulsifiers to Use with Insoluble Flavors

Polysorbate 20 NF (PCCA #30-1054) is the best option as an emulsifier for oil-soluble flavors when you need to add them to aqueous vehicles. Sorbitan Monolaurate NF (SPAN^® 20) (PCCA #30-2075) is the best option to incorporate water-soluble flavors into oil-based vehicles.

Marshmallow Masks a lot of Undesirable Tastes

Marshmallow, Artificial (PCCA #30-2699) is a great aqueous flavor to add to formulas that contain substances with undesirable taste. The amount of 1% will help to create a creamy taste and improve the overall flavor of the formulation, including the aftertaste. It can be used in combination with other flavors.

Also on The PCCA Blog: The Art of Flavoring: How to Mask the Taste of Different Medicines

Enhance Fruit Flavors with Citric Acid

Add 0.1–0.2% of USP-grade citric acid (PCCA #30-1199 or #30-1165) to an aqueous formula to enhance the taste of fruity flavors. Please note that this is not recommended to be added with active ingredients that require higher pH for stability, so it’s important to know the acceptable pH range for the active ingredients you are working with.

Use Artificial or Oil-Soluble Flavors with High pH

PCCA concentrate flavors contain citric acid and will precipitate when used in aqueous formulas where a high pH is necessary for stability of the active ingredient. Artificial or oil-soluble flavors would be the best choice in cases like that. Like our concentrate flavors, PCCA artificial flavors are water soluble, but oil-soluble flavors will require an emulsifier.

Salt Can Balance Bitterness

Saltiness is the opposite of bitterness in traditional Chinese medicine. In some cases, the addition of 0.5–1% Sodium Chloride USP Granular (PCCA #30-1087) to the formulation will help reduce bitterness and enhance the sweetness of the formulation.

Also on The PCCA Blog: Flavoring Options for Veterinary Compounding

Bonus Tip for PCCA Members: Improving the Taste of RDT-Plus™ Formulas

Powder flavors are always ideal in rapid dissolve tablets (RDTs), but in some cases, they are not powerful enough to mask the taste of bitter active ingredients. Here’s a solution that we tested in the PCCA formulations lab: After you bake the RDTs and they have cooled to room temperature, add one drop of oil-soluble flavor (options listed below) to each RDT. The oil will concentrate and, when dissolved in the mouth, will create a pleasant taste, improving the patient experience.

Use only one drop of oil-soluble flavor for each RDT. Choose from the table below.

Caution : Some flavor oils used at 100% concentration are very strong and not recommended because they may burn and cause irritation. Only use the flavor choices listed above. If PCCA members with Clinical Services support have questions, they can contact PCCA’s Clinical Services department.

Also on The PCCA Blog: Flavoring Compounded Lip Balms 

Fabiana Banov, RPh, MS, PCCA Senior Formulation Pharmacist and flavors expert, earned her pharmacy degree from the College of Pharmaceutical Science of the University of Mogi das Cruzes in Brazil. She also obtained specialization in cosmetic science from São Paulo State University and completed post-graduate work in the technology of cosmetic products from Osvaldo Cruz College. Prior to joining the PCCA team, Fabiana was the owner of Fórmula Médica Compounding Pharmacy in São Paulo, where she was instrumental in the development of unique cosmetic products. She is also the author of Pharmaceutical Veterinary Formulary.

A version of this article originally appeared in PCCA’s members-only magazine, the Apothagram.