Spray Technology: A Novel Approach in Transdermal Drug Delivery

Abstract

Skin is considered to be a largest organ of body, which accounts about 15% of total body weight. It performs various vital functions, such as protection against external environment and thermoregulation. The skin is a continuous layer, where the Stratum corneum in epidermis acts a barrier. Thus the delivery of the therapeutic agents through the skin is considered to be quite difficult. And also the conventional drug delivery system for skin such as gels, ointments, creams and patches are not effective and it is reported as patient inconvenience in application of the formulation. Thus by developing newer methods for delivering the therapeutic agents to the skin have a better action of therapeutic agents. Therefore Transdermal drug delivery system (TDDS) researchers continue to develop novel techniques to provide effective, painless delivery of drug. It provides an improved therapeutic efficacy and safety of the formulation and also site specificity is acquired through topical application on the intact skin surface. Thus the effectiveness of the topical delivery system mainly based on the physiochemical characteristics of the drug candidate and the patient adherence towards the treatment and also the ability of the system to adhere to the skin surface during the delivery therapy in order to promote the penetration of the drug via skin barriers. Thus this spray technology of film forming system is those adhering to the body surface which forms a transparent thin film that provides drug delivery of the therapeutic agents to the site. Transdermal spray offers huge advantages when compared to conventional transdermal dosage form such as flexibility in dosage design, less irritation, ease of availability for application, faster rate of drying due to the volatile solvent in formulation from the site of application. In this article, the film forming systems are illustrated as a promising delivery system for transdermal and topical route.