Abstract

CURRENT TRENDS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES IN TRANSDERMAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

P. N. V. Vinoothna and Angilicam Avinash*

ABSTRACT

Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems (TDDSs) provide controlled and prolonged drug release, enhance patient compliance, reduce gastrointestinal side effects, and improve drug stability. By delivering medication directly through the skin, TDDSs avoid the initial breakdown of the drug in the liver, which can enhance the amount of medication that reaches the bloodstream and enhancing patient compliance. However, the skin is composed of several layers through which the drug must pass through to enter the systemic circulation for therapeutic activity and its limitations include poor skin permeability. Delivery of drugs through the skin has been always a challenging area for research due to barrier properties exhibit by the outermost layer of skin stratum corneum. Effective TDDS must consider drug properties (molecular weight, solubility, and lipophilicity), vehicle composition, and skin characteristics (hydration, temperature, and regionalpermeability) to overcome these limitations. The success of all the TDDS depends on the skill of the drug to permeate skin in sufficient quantities to achieve its desired therapeutic effect. This TDDS review articles provide valuable information regarding the transdermal drug delivery systems and its evaluation process details as a ready reference for the research scientist who is involved in TDDS.

Keywords: Permeability, Permeation enhancers, Prolonged drug release, Stratum corneum, Transdermal drug delivery systems.