Concept of Orodispersible or Mucoadhesive “Tandem Films” and Their Pharmaceutical Realization

Orodispersible or mucoadhesive films as a patient-oriented dosage form for low-dosed drugs are usually produced using solvent casting. This paper presents a modification of the solvent casting technique that aimed to divide oral films into two or more compartments. The proposed objectives and fields of applications include improved handling properties and safety of application, the optimization of drug release kinetics and the enhancement of long-term stability when combining two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients into one oral film. A feasibility study for the combination of different film-forming polymers to generate the so-called tandem films was performed. As examples of practical implementation, orodispersible applicator films consisting of a drug-loaded section and a handheld piece were cast, and mucoadhesive buccal tandem films were cast to optimize the dissolution rate of the films.