What is TABMELT?
TABMELT is a novel patented and patent-pending sublingual drug delivery system that allows patients to take a medication by simply dissolving a tablet under their tongue. This delivery route may lead to more instantaneous and accurate absorption than that of oral drug delivery.
Why TABMELT?
Oral drug delivery is the most common drug delivery mechanism. Taking medications orally means that the treatment has to go through the largely acidic GI tract and the first-pass metabolism of the liver. This process suggests a larger minimally effective oral dose may be required to achieve optimum bioavailability, potentially leading to a higher risk of side effects.
Several factors influence the strategy for administering prescription drugs through specific drug delivery systems, including drug safety, systemic response, permeability, absorption, potency, efficacy, bioavailability, reactogenicity, pharmacokinetics, cost-effectiveness, and dose-response, among other factors. Sublingual drug delivery can be highly beneficial and advantageous among the various drug delivery routes. Targeted sublingual drug delivery may provide an alternative to oral drugs while potentially reducing the dose needed and possibly avoiding or limiting other delivery systems’ adverse side effects.
TABMELT is a revolutionary, patented sublingual drug delivery system that will forever change the way patients take medications. The TABMELT delivery system is a novel, all-natural, non-toxic sublingual drug delivery system that may offer a set-dose drug delivery system that enhances bioavailability and allows patients to dose by dissolving a tablet underneath the tongue.
Comparing TABMELT vs. Oral Delivery
Among the routes for various drug deliveries, the oral route is the most preferred by patients and providers, but new sublingual delivery systems could be advantageous. Review the chart below for a comparison between TABMELT and oral drug delivery.
| TABMELT | Oral Drug Delivery | |
|---|---|---|
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Delivery |
Sublingual delivery of drugs in the oral mucosal cavity is characterized by systemic delivery of drugs through the mucosal membranes lining the floor of the mouth (under the tongue). The skin under the tongue is part of the oral mucosa covering the entire inside of the mouth. The oral mucosa consists of two layers: the surface epithelium and the deeper lamina propria. The oral epithelium layer is very permeable to drugs. Thus, the sublingual delivery route can be faster and more effective way of delivering some medications. |
Oral drug delivery is the method of swallowing a pharmaceutical drug with the intention of releasing it into the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Once swallowed, a drug is released into the digestive tract's acidic, gastric environment before it is passed through to the liver, where it can be chemically altered and further broken down. Once the drug reaches the bloodstream, it will continue to circulate through the tissues and organs before being filtered by the liver and kidneys and excreted from the body. |
|
Metabolism |
Sublingual drug delivery largely avoids pre-systemic elimination in the GI tract, bypasses the liver first pass, and, depending on the drug, offers a better enzymatic flora for drug absorption. |
Oral administration of drugs has disadvantages such as pre-systemic gastric enzymatic degradation within the GI tract, and further breakdown in hepatic (liver) first pass. |
|
Dosing |
Because sublingual delivery largely avoids major metabolizing sites in the digestive tract, including the gastric environment of the stomach and first past effect in the liver, many studies show that a lower dose administered sublingually may produce the same desired bloodstream dose response as a higher dose administered orally. |
Among other factors, oral medication delivery can cause significant metabolism of a drug due to the acidic stomach environment and liver metabolism. Thus, the bioavailability of oral delivery for some medications can be as low as 5-15% of the total oral application. |
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Safety |
Dosing of sublingual drugs is an important consideration because of high absorption and rapid permeability. While this can be life-saving in certain situations, like delivering a blood thinner to a patient in atrial fibrillation, a dose of the same blood thinner would likely need to be adjusted for long-term treatment. The advantages of targeted sublingual drug release can include the reduction in dose frequency, drug side effects, and the fluctuation in circulating drug levels. Sublingual delivery may reduce toxicity and side effects caused by liver metabolites. |
Drugs administered orally move through the digestive tract. They can interact with many tissues and organs where side effects can occur if a drug has unintended effects in the body. Drugs can be chemically altered in the body. The liver and kidneys can be prone to damage caused by drug metabolism in the organs. The harmful effects of drug toxicity often manifest over time and cannot be studied immediately. |
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Cost |
Disintegrating tablet delivery creates a higher concentration in the sublingual region to be systemically absorbed across the mucosa. Studies have shown that sublingual delivery can be more permeable and may provide an environment for rapid absorption and bioavailability in comparison to oral delivery systems. A benefit highlighted by many studies shows that a lower dose for sublingual delivery may be optimal which could lead to lower priced medications in comparison to oral delivery. |
A higher amount of the active ingredient in a pharmaceutical drug is needed to increase the concentration of the medication to achieve desired dose-response, meaning higher cost associated with the amount of active(s) needed in a pharmaceutical drug, resulting in a lower cost to produce. Additionally, with sublingual delivery, there is no need to encase pharmaceuticals in hard shells to protect them from the GI tract, which increases the cost of oral delivery.
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