Bioadhesive tablets for intraoral drug delivery were prepared by directly compressing the drug with a mixture of chitosan and sodium alginate in weight ratios of 4:1, 1:1 and 1:4, and the adhesion and release characteristics of the prepared systems were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Ketoprofen was used as a model drug. The magnitudes of the adhesion force of chitosan/alginate tablets were observed to be comparable to that of Aftach, which is a typical commercial preparation of an oral mucosal adhesive tablet. Increasing the chitosan content in the tablets resulted in a decrease in the release rate of ketoprofen. When the tablets were administered to the sublingual site of rabbits, ketoprofen from the tablets with chitosan/alginate was rapidly absorbed without an initial sharp peak. Furthermore, the plasma concentration curves for the tablet with a 1:4 chitosan/alginate ratio showed a sustained release 3 h after administration. The data presented suggest that tablets prepared from chitosan and alginate are potential candidates for intraoral drug delivery.