Acrylate terpolymer in fabrication of medicated skin patches

Abstract

AbstractAn acrylate based pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) was synthesized to design a drug‐in‐adhesive (DIA) type transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) for nitroglycerin used in the treatment of angina pectoris. 2‐Ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA), methyl methacrylate (MMA) and acrylic acid (AA) were used to synthesize the PSA by free radical solution polymerization. The effects of reaction time, reaction temperature, initiator concentration and solvent on polymerization were studied. The synthesized terpolymer was characterized by 1H‐NMR, FT‐IR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and also evaluated for intrinsic viscosity, refractive index, peel strength, moisture uptake and skin irritation potential. The PSA was used to develop DIA type patches of nitroglycerin. The patches were cast using solvent evaporation technique and dried at controlled temperature. The patches were evaluated for thickness uniformity, weight variation, peel strength and moisture pick‐up. The percent drug content and in vitro drug release was determined by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. On the basis of in vitro release profile, patches were selected for in vitro skin permeation studies. The developed formulation TP‐1 (K = 24.892 mcg/cm2/hr) followed zero‐order rate kinetics and showed better skin permeation rate in comparison to the marketed TTS (MTTS) (K = 17.413 mcg/cm2/hr). TP‐1 was subjected to stability testing for a period of 1 year according to ICH guidelines. The patches were found to be stable and an expiry date of 2 years was predicted with storage at 25 °C or below. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.