Abstract
The vaginal route of administration has a large surface area with a rich blood supply demonstrating capacity for local absorption and systemic bioavailability of drugs. However, there are problems associated with current vaginal delivery method in terms of dosing precision and accuracy. In this report, the potential utility of the metered-dose Topi-CLICK<sup>®</sup> Perl<sup>™</sup> system for vaginal delivery of feminine medication is presented. The aim was to evaluate the efficiency of Topi-CLICK<sup>®</sup> Perl<sup>™</sup> for dosing accuracy, precision, and residual waste of medicaments relative to currently available dispensing systems. The results showed Topi-CLICK<sup>®</sup> Perl<sup>™</sup> system to have the highest accuracy for a dose being correctly delivered more than 88% of the time. Whereas other commonly used dispenser systems, such as plastic or metal (aluminum) ointment tubes with smooth or ribbed applicators, exhibited not more than 10% of doses being within acceptable limits for accuracy. Medication waste was significantly minimized using Topi-CLICK<sup>®</sup> Perl<sup>™</sup>, which has an estimated overfill volume less than 6%. This required overfill volume ranged from 39% to 88% respectively, for the plastic and metal ointment tubes. Qualitatively, operators of Topi-CLICK<sup>®</sup> Perl<sup>™</sup> found the metered-dose system the easiest to use with little mess. Based on these results, Topi-CLICK<sup>®</sup> Perl<sup>™</sup> outperformed other traditional dispensing systems for vaginal drug delivery in accuracy and precision, with the least amount of residual medication waste.
Highlights
There are several routes of administration for which drugs can be delivered to the body
The Topi-CLICK® PerlTM loaders were tapped 20 times on their bases to settle the cream; the base turned until only cream was expelled, and the device was wiped and capped
The need for priming was more prevalent using plastic tubes than with the Topi-CLICK® PerlTM or the metal aluminum ointment tube systems. This issue had led to diminished accuracy and precision of the delivered doses, less user-friendly compared to the Topi-CLICK® PerlTM, and could inadvertently expose drug to air and contaminants
Summary
There are several routes of administration for which drugs can be delivered to the body. The vaginal route was traditionally reserved for locally acting agents such as antibacterial, antifungal and spermicidal agents, but it offers a great potential for systemic delivery. This area has a rich blood supply, a large surface area, and a wide range of permeability for different compounds, which makes it a potentially ideal site for administration of systemic drugs [2, 3]. Intra-vaginal medications are used for contraception, hormone replacement therapy, cervical cancer treatment, and anti-fungal therapy among others [5,6,7,8]. Vaginal dapivirine rings have recently been studied for use as HIV prevention in women [9]
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