Development of purified cashew gum mucoadhesive buccal tablets containing nystatin for treatment of oral candidiasis

The objective of this work was to prepare mucoadhesive buccal tablets containing nystatin and purified cashew gum for the treatment of oral candidiasis. Mucoadhesive buccal tablets containing the drug nystatin are an alternative to oral suspensions, which cause low therapeutic adherence to the treatment of oral candidiasis. Purified cashew gum has been studied as a diluent and mucoadhesive agent in tablets. Two batches of mucoadhesive tablets were produced, MT1 and MT 2, containing purified cashew gum, nystatin (500,000 IU), flavoring agent and with or without the presence of lubricant agent. The average weight, mechanical properties, dose uniformity, drug release profile, mucoadhesive properties and antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans were evaluated. Tablets presented average weight of 329.1 ± 3.1 mg (MT1) and 334.6 ± 1.5 mg (MT2), hardness of 9.8 ± 0.8 KgF (MT1) and 8.3 ± 0.4 KgF (MT2), friability of 0.2% (MT1 and MT2), and dose uniformity of 102.20 ± 1.17% (MT1) and 99.06 ± 7.40% (MT2). MT1 and MT2 were able to swell, erode, release the drug and remain adhered to the pig's cheek up to 3 h for batch MT1 and 4 h for batch MT2, and the amount of nystatin released since the beginning of the test in both batches was sufficient to inhibit the growth of the fungus. Therefore, the proposed formulation proved to be very promising and met all the studied criteria, showing to be ideal for the treatment of oral candidiasis.