What is the "past life" of the tablet?

The birth of modern tablet computer originated from an accidental discovery. Brockden, an Englishman, found that when making pencils, pencil lead's raw material powder was pressed into a strip-shaped pencil lead in a press. Then he thought, if you put the drug powder in the model, you can also press it into thin slices. So he made a simple "hand-pressed mold" and obtained a patent in 1843. Once this method was spread, it was popularized. Later, on the basis of his invention, people improved machinery. After mixing the medicine and auxiliary materials evenly, put them into a mold, beat them with a mallet and press them into tablets. However, the tablets made by this method are not only of poor quality, but also time-consuming and laborious. With the advent of the industrial era, the manual production of tablets has been replaced by machines, so the production and application of tablets have developed rapidly. In modern times, in order to meet people's different requirements for tablet computers, there are more and more varieties of tablet computers. Here are some examples:

1 Tablet: Tablet This is a traditional tablet. It is a dosage form which is prepared by uniformly mixing drugs and auxiliary materials and pressing. It has the advantages of stable quality, accurate dosage and convenient taking and carrying, but it is not suitable for patients who are difficult to swallow, such as infants and coma. Because some auxiliary materials, such as starch, talcum powder and magnesium stearate, need to be added into tablets, sometimes the dissolution and bioavailability of drugs will be affected.

2 coated tablets: putting a layer of "coat" on the ordinary outside is called coated tablets. Now there are mainly sugar-coated tablets and film-coated tablets. Compared with ordinary tablets, coated tablets have the advantages of isolating air, preventing moisture and light, increasing the stability of drugs and covering up the bad smell of drugs.

③ Enteric-coated tablets: The enteric-coated tablets are covered with a layer of "raincoat". This raincoat does not release or hardly releases drugs in acidic environment in the stomach, but can release drugs mostly or completely in alkaline environment in the intestine, which can reduce the stimulation of drugs to gastric mucosa or the failure of drug decomposition in the stomach. Therefore, in order to avoid the failure of this drug dosage form, patients must swallow it whole when taking it. (Note: Of course, we sometimes see enteric-coated capsules in pharmacies, but their preparation properties are the same. )

4 Chewable tablets: Chewable tablets are tablets that must be fully chewed before swallowing. Because the surface area of tablets is increased after chewing, it can promote the dissolution and absorption of drugs in the body and improve the curative effect. This tablet is more suitable for children or patients with dysphagia. Parents should put the chewable tablets in a place where children can't easily find them after giving them to their children, because flavoring agents such as sucrose and peppermint oil are often added to this tablet to improve the taste, which is good and prevents children from eating it as candy.

⑤ Buccal tablets: Buccal tablets refer to tablets containing drugs in the oral cavity to slowly dissolve and exert their efficacy, such as Huasu tablets and Caoshanhu buccal tablets. When taking, the tablets should be placed at the base of the tongue, gingival sulcus or near the affected area, so that they can be dissolved without chewing. Don't eat, drink or smoke for half an hour after taking it, so as not to affect the curative effect.

⑥ Dispersible tablets: Dispersible tablets can disintegrate rapidly and disperse evenly when exposed to water. Compared with ordinary tablets, dispersible tablets can be swallowed or dispersed in water for oral administration, which has the advantages of short disintegration time, rapid dissolution, rapid absorption, high bioavailability and convenient administration.

⑦ Multi-layer tablets: Multi-layer tablets refer to tablets composed of two or more layers, each layer can contain different drugs or tablets composed of the same drugs but different excipients, and its purpose is to adjust the action time of drugs or reduce the contact between the two layers of drugs and reduce the compatibility changes.