Basics of Compounding: Excipients Used in Nonsterile Compounding, Part 11: Drug Tastes: Innate, Induced, and Improved.

Many drugs inherently have a taste associated with them when in solution; these are the innate or inherent tastes associated with the drug itself and are often included in the official United States Pharmacopeia-National Formulary description of the drug. Some drugs will induce a taste or a change in taste characteristics when administered to a patient; these are induced tastes and a long list of examples is included in this article. Oftentimes, it is necessary to alter the properties of a dosage form to overcome disagreeable tastes of drugs through the use of different flavoring methods, which is also discussed. Patient compliance is critical for effective therapy and taste is important for compliance.