Abstract

A REVIEW ON NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: TRANSDERMAL PATCH

Asmat Majeed and Nisar Ahmad Khan*

ABSTRACT

In the last two decades, the transdermal drug delivery system has become a well-known technology that offers significant clinical benefits over other conventional dosage forms. Transdermal delivery not only provides controlled, constant administration of the drug, but also allows continuous input of drugs with short biological half-lives and eliminates pulsed entry into systemic circulation, which often causes undesirable side effects. Delivery of drugs through the skin has always been a challenging area for research due to barrier properties exhibited by stratum corneum the outermost layer of skin. Transdermal patches have made an important contribution to medical practice, but have yet to fully achieve its potential as an alternative to oral delivery and hypodermic injections and the market for transdermal products has been in a significant upward trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. This review article gives brief information regarding benefits of transdermal patches over other conventional dosage forms, types of transdermal patches, components of transdermal patch and evaluation of transdermal patches.

Keywords: Transdermal patch, Skin, Transdermal permeation.