Medicated Chewing Gum is an Excellent Drug Delivery System for Self Medication

Chewing gum has been used for centuries to clean the mouth or refresh the breath. Chewing gum was patented for first time on filed in 1869 and the first medicated chewing gum was commercially made available 1928. In 1991 The European Pharmacopoeia defines medicated chewing gum as ''solid, single-dose preparations with a base consisting mainly of gum that are intended to be chewed but not swallowed''. Chewing gum is an excellent drug delivery system for self-medication as it is convenient and can be administered discretely without water or any other liquid. Basics of the gum formulation, quality control tests, regulatory and safety issues have been addressed to ensure desired therapeutic effects. The release of a drug from chewing gum is dependent upon its water solubility. Water soluble substances are released rapidly and completely from chewing gum and methods are available which retard their release from chewing gum to provide an extended release profile. Slightly water soluble drugs are released slowly and incompletely from chewing gum and require special formulation techniques to produce a satisfactory release profile.