Medicated Chewing Gum: A Modern Era of Novel Drug Delivery System

The reasons that the oral route achieved such popularity may be in part attributed to its ease of administration. The medicated chewing gum (MCG) is one of the very popular oral confectionery products. The medicated chewing gums are solid, single dose preparations with a base consisting mainly of gums that are intended to be chewed but not swallowed. Chewing gum known as gum base (insoluble gum base resin) contains elastomers, waxes, emulsifiers, fillers, antioxidants, food colorings, softeners, sweeteners, flavoring agents, and in case of medical chewing gum, active substances. They contain one or more active substances which are released by chewing and are intended to be used for local treatment of mouth diseases or systemic delivery after absorption through the buccal mucosa and improve the oral bioavailability of drugs undergoing first pass metabolism. It offers various advantages over conventional drug delivery systems. It is a potentially useful means of administering drugs either locally or systemically via, the oral cavity. It was concluded that chewing gum is an excellent drug delivery system for self-medication as it is convenient and can be administered discretely without water.