Preparation and Evaluation of Nail Lacquer containing Luliconazole as Ungual Drug Delivery System

Abstract

Background: The primary goal of developing the antifungal nail lacquer is to determine its suitability for delivering medicine to the desired location. Because the area between the nail and the skin is commonly impacted, topical treatment is difficult to reach. Statistical techniques were used in this study to understand the source of variables.
 Methods: Nail lacquer formulations were prepared using luliconazole using a simple mixing method. The drug's permeability was made better by using the permeation enhancers in different amounts.
 Results: The drug-excipient study revealed no physical or chemical interaction, while the standard calibration curve showed that the drug follows Beers-Lamberts' law with a coefficient value of 0.984. The medicated nail lacquer was evaluated for various parameters such as non-volatile content, which was in the range of 37.020.72-43.050.57%, drying time was found to be in the range of 42-97 seconds, water resistance was found to be 0.10-0.24gm, the drug content in the prepared nail paint was found to be in the range of 94.331.52-98.33.51%, and the drug release study revealed the drug release in the range of 0.70.1-51.580.28%, which shows satisfactory results. The antifungal study revealed a zone of inhibition for the prepared nail paint of 47 mm, which was the highest among all the formulations and also the highest among the studies conducted with pure drug and control formulation. The stability study revealed that the optimised formulation, i.e., F2, was stable during the time span of the study, and hence it was concluded that the prepared formulation was stable.
 Conclusion: From the results above, it can be concluded that nail lacquer containing luliconazole could be a promising drug delivery system for treating fungal nail infections.