Introduction: According to the European Pharmacopoeia oromucosal films comprise mucoadhesive buccal films and orodispersible films. Both oral dosage forms receive considerable interest in the recent years as commercially available pharmaceutical products and as small scale personalized extemporaneous preparations.
Areas covered: In this review technological issues such as viscosity of the casting liquid, mechanical properties of the film, upscaling and the stability of the casting solution and produced films will be discussed. Furthermore, patient related problems like appearance, mucosal irritation, taste, drug-load, safety and biopharmaceutics are described. Current knowledge and directions for solutions are summarized.