Acta Pharm. 69 (2019) 197-215

 

full paper

Review

 

Transdermal patches: Design and current approaches to painless drug delivery

OTHMAN A. AL HANBALI, HAJI MUHAMMAD SHOAIB KHAN, MUHAMMAD SARFRAZ, MOSAB ARAFAT, SHAKEEL IJAZ and ABDUL HAMEED

otal8872@uni.sydney.edu.au

1 Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006 Australia

2 Dana Pharmaceuticals Factory, Zawata Road, Nablus-West Bank, Palestinian Authority

3 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicine, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan

4 College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, Al Ain, PO Box 64141, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE

5 Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1Canada

Accepted November 7, 2018

Published online December 28, 2018

 

Use of transdermal patches can evade many issues associated with oral drug delivery, such as first-pass hepatic metabolism, enzymatic digestion attack, drug hydrolysis and degradation in acidic media, drug fluctuations, and gastrointestinal irritation. This article reviews various transdermal patches available in the market, types, structural components, polymer role, and the required assessment tools. Although transdermal patches have medical applications for smoking cessation, pain relief, osteoporosis, contraception, motion sickness, angina pectoris, and cardiac disorders, advances in formulation development are ongoing to make transdermal patches capable of delivering more challenging drugs. Transdermal patches can be tailored and developed according to the physicochemical properties of active and inactive components, and applicability for long-term use. Therefore, a number of chemical approaches and physical techniques for transdermal patch development are under investigation.

 

Keywords: transdermal patch, transdermal drug delivery, polymer matrix, adhesives, skin formulation