Pharmaceutical Excipient for Taste Masking Market

Pharmaceutical Excipient for Taste Masking Market Outlook (2024 to 2034)

The global pharmaceutical excipient for taste masking market size is set to be valued at US$ 972.9 million in 2024 and has been forecasted to expand at a CAGR of 5% to reach US$ 1.58 billion by the end of 2034.

It has always been a challenging task for patients to consume bitter medicines while they are sick. In many instances, patients refuse to take medicines due to their unpleasant taste. This is a major problem drug manufacturers have to face. Pharmaceutical companies have introduced excipients to address this issue of taste masking. These agents effectively diminish the bitter taste, enhancing the overall palatability for patients, thus promoting faster healing. The rising popularity of these excipients in the medical industry stems from their considerable success and high demand among end users.

Taste stands as a pivotal factor in ensuring patient compliance. The presence of an unpleasant taste poses a significant challenge in formulating certain medications. Ensuring oral delivery of bitter medications with an acceptable level of palatability is a crucial consideration for healthcare providers, especially when treating young patients. Several oral medications, as well as food and beverage items, contain bitter-tasting ingredients, necessitating the use of taste-masking agents. Consequently, pharmaceutical formulations with pleasant tastes are preferred over competitors' products, leading to enhanced patient compliance, therapeutic efficacy, and increased sales and profits for the company.

Key Market Growth Drivers

• Children desire medicines with a more pleasant taste, making them a primary target for taste-masking agent manufacturers. Pharmaceutical companies target regions with higher pediatric patient numbers to exponentially boost their sales.
• Spices, herbs, and hot peppers are excellent natural flavor enhancers. These organic compounds, commonly used to enhance flavors, also serve as maskers. When opting for natural substitutes, it is vital to strike a delicate balance between the inherent flavor of the chosen enhancer or masking agent and the overall taste.
• Mitigating bitterness and inhibiting it are essential aspects of an effective oral dosage form. Significant progress in taste-masking compositions has been made in recent years. Established methods for reducing and inhibiting bitterness have improved the palatability of these formulations. The widespread adoption of oral medications as alternatives to traditionally injectable peptides may increase if bitterness can be partially eliminated. Recent years have witnessed notable advancements in developing bitterness-free, flavor-neutral, and taste-masked compositions.

Report Attribute	Detail
Pharmaceutical Excipient for Taste Masking Market Size (2024E)	US$ 972.9 Million
Forecasted Market Value (2034F)	US$ 1.58 Billion
Global Market Growth Rate (2024 to 2034)	5% CAGR
Canada Market Growth Rate (2024 to 2034)	4.1% CAGR
China Market Value (2034F)	US$ 242 Million
North America Market Share (2024E)	29.2%
East Asia Market Share (2034F)	21.5%
Key Companies Profiled	AbbVie; NextPharma; Patheon; Lonza; Quotient; Fertin Pharma; Sciences and Senopsys; Catalent; Adare Pharmaceutical Inc.; SPI Pharma Inc.; Asahi Kasei Corporation; Rochem International Inc.; GPT Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.; DuPont de Numours Inc.; Dow Pharma Solutions.

What is Driving Use of Taste-Masking Agents in Pharmaceuticals?

“Enhanced Patient Adherence Due to Improved Taste and Odor”

Taste and smell can distinguish the flavor of any substance. Any substance with a bitter taste struggles to gain widespread acceptance. Therefore, for patients such as the elderly and toddlers to orally consume traditional bitter drugs, taste masking agents are now necessary. This is a major factor driving the pharmaceutical excipient for taste masking market growth.

Pharmaceutical excipients for taste masking play a crucial role in the final formulation of oral drugs unless the compounds are tasteless or have an unpleasant taste. These excipients help impart a pleasant taste to many final prescription formulations, potentially alleviating nausea caused by the taste of the drug.

Use of various excipients for sweetening, ranging from synthetic to natural, has provided companies with the necessary ability to compete in the market for flavor masking in terms of price, availability, and convenience.

Chronic and lifestyle-related illnesses are increasingly prevalent worldwide. Major chronic illnesses include diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, and pulmonary ailments. Lifestyle-related factors such as smoking, lack of exercise, and unhealthy eating habits all contribute to the growing demand for medication.

Which Factor Has the Potential to Shrink Profits of Suppliers?

“Concerns over Adverse Patient Outcomes Resulting from Mixing of Excipients”

Processes for licensing generic pharmaceuticals are uniform globally, with minor differences in developing nations. This is because worldwide, bioequivalence (BE) studies are not mandatory for generic drug approval. Healthcare experts argue that governments need to ensure consistent quality across all generic pharmaceuticals.

Lack of confidence in generic pharmaceuticals, particularly among physicians and patients, is often attributed to lenient regulatory standards regarding the number of generics available and permissible contaminants. Regulation of excipient manufacturing and distribution is currently a pressing concern for both authorities and drug manufacturers, as mixing excipients has led to adverse patient outcomes. The emergence of new excipients and delivery systems has underscored the importance of maintaining greater control over the supply and quality of pharmaceutical excipients, especially concerning in vivo performance.

Given the critical role of excipients in pharmaceutical formulations, excipient suppliers must meet stringent industry quality standards, and the pharmaceutical sector as a whole must collaborate to ensure product safety throughout the supply chain. Consequently, the increase in regulatory requirements for pharmaceutical and excipient licensing could potentially impact the pharmaceutical excipient market for taste masking market size.

Country-wise Analysis

The market in Japan is forecasted to expand at a CAGR of 4.8%. The country is evaluated to occupy a pharmaceutical excipient for taste masking market share of 26.2% in East Asia by the end of 2034.

What is Making the United States a Profit Hive in the North American Region?

“Increased Demand for Functional Excipients and Focus on Developing Improved Agents”

Attribute	United States
Market Value (2024E)	US$ 241.6 Million
Growth Rate (2024 to 2034)	5.2% CAGR
Projected Value (2034F)	US$ 402.1 Million

The pharmaceutical sector’s steady expansion, increased demand for functional excipients, presence of major market players, and technological advancements in the United States are projected to greatly influence market growth over the forecast period. Development of advanced excipients is also contributing to market growth.

• For instance, Apisolex was introduced in the United States in May 2022 by Lubrizol Life Science (LLS) Health, a global leader in pharmaceutical innovation. This new excipient enhances solubility in parenteral medication formulations.

Why Should Manufacturers Keep a Close Eye on China for Potential Opportunities?

“Widespread Use of Chitosan for Taste Modification in Chinese Medicine”

Attribute	China
Market Value (2024E)	US$ 143 Million
Growth Rate (2024 to 2034)	5.4% CAGR
Projected Value (2034F)	US$ 242 Million

The taste-modifying role of chitosan in bitter alkaloid and flavonoid glycoside medications has roots in traditional Chinese medicine. This taste-modifying technique can also improve the unpleasant taste of TCMs. This flavor-modification method could offer fresh perspectives on masking the taste of TCM, especially in certain TCM oral formulations for children, potentially enhancing pediatric patients' adherence.

Category-wise Insights

Based on end user, nutraceuticals are estimated to hold a market share of 10.3% in 2024, and their sales are calculated to increase at a CAGR of 4.3% from 2024 to 2034.

What Role Do Artificial Agents Play in Masking Bitter Tastes in Medicines?

“Efficiency and Speed of Artificial Masking Agents in Concealing Bitter Taste”

Attribute	Artificial
Segment Value (2024E)	US$ 338.6 Million
Growth Rate (2024 to 2034)	5.3% CAGR
Projected Value (2034F)	US$ 566.7 Million

Artificial masking agents are proven to be quicker and easier to mask or hide the bitter taste in medicine or any food. Drug suppliers often opt for artificial masking agents over natural agents due to this factor, which is a critical pharmaceutical excipient for taste masking market trend.

Why Do Manufacturers Prefer the Coating for Producing Masking Agents?

“Coating Technique Reduces Need for Extensive Time and Machinery”

Attribute	Coating
Segment Value (2024E)	US$ 321.4 Million
Growth Rate (2024 to 2034)	5.3% CAGR
Projected Value (2034F)	US$ 541 Million

Compared to other techniques, coating is much more prevalent in the industry as coating does not require much time and machinery. Thus, most of the manufacturers go with the idea of coating while manufacturing masking agents.

Competitive Landscape

To enhance their market share, key players in the pharmaceutical excipient for taste masking market are focusing on creating new platforms and a variety of taste-masking technologies. These include stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems, which employ pH- and ion-sensitive polymers to mask the harsh taste of medications and adapt themselves to the evolving market trends such as sustained release excipients and cellulose derivative excipients.

• In March 2022, CD Formulation offered customized solutions for greater bioavailability excipients to solve the issue of poor bioavailability, which has long been a challenge in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
• In October 2021, Beneo introduced galenIQ 721. The filler binder improves the flavor and stability of effervescent tablets and powders. It is a non-hygroscopic, water-soluble, and quickly compressible excipient that provides excellent content consistency and production efficiency in effervescent applications.

Fact.MR provides detailed information about the price points of manufacturers of key pharmaceutical excipients for taste masking positioned across the world, sales growth, production capacity, and speculative technological expansion, in this new market report.

Key Segments of Pharmaceutical Excipient for Taste Masking Market Research

• By Excipient :

  • Natural
  • Artificial
  • Nutritive
  • Non-nutritive
  • Polyols
  • Others

• By Technique :

  • Hot Melt Extrusion
  • Microencapsulation
  • Coating
  • Organoleptic Methods
  • Others

• By Usage :

  • Solid Dosage Forms
    • Tablets
    • Granules
    • Capsules
  • Liquid Dosage Forms

• By End Use :

  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Nutraceuticals
  • Contract Manufacturing Organizations

• By Region :

  • North America
  • Latin America
  • Eastern Europe
  • Western Europe
  • East Asia
  • South Asia & Pacific
  • Middle East & Africa