Development and evaluation of taste masked dry syrup formulation of potassium chloride

Potassium chloride (KCl) syrup is widely used for the oral treatment of the hypokalemia. However, it is associated with unacceptable taste. In the present study, we sought to develop a palatable and easy to reconstitute KCl dry syrup as a commercially viable alternative to currently available KCl syrup. We explored the potential of Eudragit E100 as a taste-masking polymer to coat and improve the palatability of the KCl. With the help of fluid bed processor, KCl was coated with the solution containing varying amounts of Eudragit E100 (4, 6, 10 and 15%). Coating with 10% polymer solution enabled optimal fluid bed processing, higher entrapment of the KCl (81%) and better in vitro release profile in 0.1 N HCl and pH 6.8 phosphate buffer. A dry syrup formulation containing Eudragit E100 coated KCl with good physical and chemical stability in dry and reconstituted state was developed. The palatability of the optimized formulation and commercially available KCl syrup was evaluated using the Electronic Taste Sensing Machine. The developed formulation showed~ 2-fold better taste-masking compared to the commercial KCl syrup. Thus, present investigation describes the development of an effective alternative to the current KCl syrup that can offer better palatability, stability and patient compliance.