New benznidazole chewable tablets for the treatment of chagas desease in pediatric patients

PAREDES ALEJANDRO JAVIER; GARCÍA MÓNICA CRISTINA; ROMAÑUK CAROLINA BEATRIZ; MANZO RUBEN HILARIO; JIMÉNEZ KAIRÚZ ÁLVARO FEDERICO

Rosario-Santa Fe

Otro; 2° Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas -RICiFa 2012; 2012

Facultad de Farmacia-Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Chagas disease (CD) is a tropical infectious disease caused by the intracellular flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Nowadays, it remains a serious public health problem in several Latin American Nations and was included by the World Health Organization in the group of neglected diseases. In Argentine, it is estimated that close to 7.6 million people would find exposed to the disease and about 1,6-2,0 million infected. The Chagas National Program has estimate that every year born about 1.300 new infected. Benznidazole (BZN) is commonly used as the primary therapeutic agent and it can eliminate the symptoms associated with the acute phase, providing a satisfactory cure rate. The highest efficacy of pharmacotherapy was observed during children and early adolescence treatment. Unfavorable pharmacokinetic properties, such as poor water solubility, short terminal half-time and limited tissue penetration, lead to irregular oral absorption and promote an erratic bioavailability. In addition, numerous adverse reactions have been reported due to high toxicity and gastrointestinal intolerance which often lead to discontinuation of therapy. Currently, many efforts are being made to ensure the provision of medicines for the treatment of CD4, however, there is still no suitable pharmaceutical formulation for the treatment on pediatric patients. In this context, this work focuses on the development and in vitro evaluation of BNZ formulations containing pediatric doses under chewable tablet form, with taste masked and rapid drug dissolution in order to improve the patient compliance and unfavorable pharmacokinetic of BNZ.