The usefulness and uniformity of division for three types of tablets (U19D9, U8D9 and U2D9) were investigated to design a novel film-coated scored tablet, which can be divided by pressure regardless of the side with the score and the presence of packaging, were evaluated by pharmacists, volunteers and elderly patients. The results obtained are as follows:
1. Though the usefulness of division, which deteriorated with the presence of packaging, was affected by the dividing method, the overall evaluations of U19D9 and U8D9 were superior to that of U2D9.
2. U19D9 showed a uniform division regardless of the subject, dividing method and presence of packaging when dividing one tablet. when dividing of one packaged sheet (10 tablets), the coefficient of variation of the divided tablet weight for U19D9 and U8D9 was smaller than that for U2D9.
3. From the above results, U19D9 was found to be a film-coated scored tablet that was easy to divide and also demonstrated a greater uniformity of division.