Transdermal Drug Delivery System: A Recent Review

Abstract

Transdermal medication delivery is the first and foremost delivery of drugs since the inception of treatment for
human beings and diseases. In the olden days all the physician focussed on two methods of administering the drugs
the first is the oral delivery next is transdermal delivery. The transdermal delivery has even more advantageous
than oral dosage forms in some aspects such as overcoming the drug degradation which happens in the entire
length of gastro intestinal tract. The removal of formulation is also easy and its application is easy without any
other major ingredients. The present review focuses on its origin, anatomy of skin, and its layers concerning the
passage of drugs, advantages, disadvantages, applications, physiological properties, biological properties, and
limitations, polymers, and various approaches for patches. The major challenge and success in dosage form is
the selection of polymers for formulation and its successful drug delivery. This article narrates the majority of
evaluation studies to be carried out for the transdermal patches such as Physicochemical evaluation - Thickness,
Uniformity of weight, drug content determination, moisture uptake, flatness, folding endurance, Tack properties,
tensile strength, Thumb tack test, rolling ball test, quick stick (peel tack) test, in vitro release studies, in vivo
studies, percentage water vapor permeation test, human model, swellability, polariscopic examination, stability
testing and skin irritation study and their procedure and diagram of experimental performance was presented. The
prepared patches need to be successfully evaluated for the above tests and suitable bioavailability must be proved
for good market product. The content was also made on present available marketed products and its use such as
nicotine patch as Nico dermis to help in smoking cessation, nitroglycerin patches for angina pectoris, estradiol
patches in combination with levonorgestrel as climara pro for menopausal symptoms, and some other drugs to
cure diseases.