AstraZeneca is patenting (WO9932082) a way to help children and the elderly
take bulky tablets such as the asthma drug Zafirlukast, which is difficult to
swallow. Zeneca鈥檚 answer is to coat minuscule sugar or starch spheres less than
a millimetre wide with Zafirlukast and a polyvinylpyrrolidone binder. The
pellets are baked and sealed with another coating of a similar binder to conceal
the drug鈥檚 taste. The tiny pellets can then be sprinkled on food or in a drink
like sugar.
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