Palatability assessment of oral dosage forms for companion animals: A systematic review

Abstract

The challenging administration of poorly palatable oral dosage forms to companion animals has fostered sub-optimal treatment outcomes for animals and thus a need for highly palatable treatments. Pharmaceutical companies are creating formulations to answer this need, but lack of a standardised procedure renders palatability assessment complicated and hinders comparison between studies. The gold standard in assessing voluntary acceptance is to utilise an acceptance test and/or preference test but slight variations as to how these are conducted can be observed between studies. This systematic review aims to examine palatability assessment methods and how palatability of oral dosage forms influences acceptability of medicines in companion animals. Solid oral dosage forms are well tolerated by dogs but very poorly by cats. Cats accept pastes more readily although this dosage form seems more suited for short-term forced administration and owner convenience. Liquid formulations seem to be well tolerated in cats but poorly in dogs. Meat-based flavours yield high palatability. The shape and colour of dosage forms also seem to impact palatability. Methodology can induce bias and must therefore be adapted to the animals and dosage forms tested. It seems there is a lack of evidence relating to formulation parameters that yield high palatability in companion animals. Additional studies and revised guidelines from the European Medicines Agency on palatability testing of veterinary medicinal products are therefore required. This review provides insight as to which dosage form, flavours and physical aspect generate increased palatability and which methodological parameters should be altered or monitored to avoid bias.

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