Flexible and dispersible paediatric oral formulations produced via extrusion spheronisation for the treatment of tuberculosis

increased as drug loading rose, pellets maintained acceptable sphericity, highlighting the robustness of the formulation process. The most notable distinction between the batches was the rapid disintegration of spheronised pellets containing INH, PZD, RIF, and XPVP within 20-30 s in Simulated Salivary Fluid (SSF) at 37 °C, in contrast to the MCC-based pellets, which remained intact under identical conditions. The dissolution profiles, particularly for RIF and PZD, were significantly faster with XPVP-formulated pellets compared to MCC. These findings aligned with tensile strength data, where XPVP-based pellets, both drug-free and drug-loaded, were less hard than MCC-based pellets, contributing to their superior disintegration and dissolution performance. Age-appropriate flexible dose combination spherical pellets were developed and their properties make them a promising formulation strategy for combination therapy to improve the overall TB treatment in paediatric populations.