A fast-melting pharmaceutical tablet comprises a porous, plastic substance, a water penetration enhancer and a binder. One or more drugs can be incorporated into the formulation at different stages of the process so as to afford a pharmaceutically active tablet. Methods of making the pharmaceutical tablet entail combining the porous, plastic material, the water penetration enhancing agent, and the binder so as to form highly plastic granules, which are compressed into tablets. The resulting tablets dissolve rapidly in the mouth and have good hardness with low brittleness. The tablets are particularly valuable to those who have difficulty swallowing conventional pills.