Making cannabinoid medicines easier to swallow

Organoleptic properties are important factors in the development of pharmaceutical formulations, as they directly impact patient adherence and, consequently, treatment efficacy. Cannabinoid-based oils often possess unpleasant taste and texture, which can compromise treatment compliance. This preliminary proof-of-concept study aimed to develop oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions utilizing cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG) rich extracts, evaluate their physicochemical stability under accelerated conditions, and perform an instrumental taste-related characterization. The formulations exhibited pH values of 6.5 ± 0.2 for the CBD-based emulsion and 6.6 ± 0.2 to CBG- for the CBG-based emulsion, with no significant weight loss observed. Although a decrease in viscosity and active content was observed over 6 months, particularly in the CBD-rich emulsion (over 50%), these effects can be mitigated by increasing antioxidant and ionic emulsifying agent concentrations. LUMiSizer analysis demonstrated that the presence of the extracts enhanced emulsion stability compared to blank formulations, yielding instability indexes of 0.237 ± 0.011 (CBD), 0.282 ± 0.010 (CBG), and 0.312 ± 0.011 (blank). Preliminary instrumental taste profiling using an electronic tongue (e-tongue) showed that the emulsions generated fingerprints indistinguishable from the blank formulation and clearly distinct from a bitter reference. Overall, these results provide preliminary evidence supporting the use of O/W emulsions as a taste-masking strategy for cannabinoid delivery. While the e-tongue data demonstrated effective instrumental masking of bitterness, the physicochemical stability data revealed limitations that must be addressed in future formulation iterations, particularly regarding CBD content and long-term phase stability.