The palatability of commercially available hyoscine butyl bromide syrups for paediatric use in South Africa: comparative assessment using an electronic tongue

Patient rejection of unpalatable products can adversely affect therapeutic adherence, potentially leading to treatment failure. Taste masking is a goal in pharmaceutical development, particularly when developing formulations for paediatric patients. The use of an electronic tongue (e-tongue) enables rapid, objective, and robust taste evaluation. Its use is gaining traction in the quality assessment of pharmaceutical products. The capability of an Alpha Astree II taste-sensing system to evaluate the palatability of commercially available hyoscine butylbromide (HBB) syrup brands in South Africa, was investigated. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to process the e-tongue data and the resultant biplots can distinguish between the taste of reference compounds and HBB syrups. The sensor values and taste screening rankings indicate the three brands exhibit a bitter-sweet taste. Brand Z has greater bitterness and sourness than brands, X and Y due to citric acid monohydrate in the formulation. Brand Y included sodium cyclamate and was the most palatable syrup. The findings indicate the e-tongue can differentiate the taste of HBB syrups when different excipients are used to alter taste. Pharmaceutical companies could use these data to improve the palatability of currently available hyoscine syrups. The E-tongue is a complementary instrument to human sensory panels used to inform product development in alignment with customer preferences.