EVALUATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TRANSDERMAL THERAPEUTIC SYSTEMS: AN EXHAUSTIVE PICTORIAL AND FIGURATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Designing and development of transdermal patches can be described as state of the art. The development of Transdermal drug delivery system is multidisciplinary activity that encompasses fundamental feasibility studies starting from the selection of drug molecule to the demonstration of sufficient drug flux in an ex vivo and in vivo model followed by fabrication of a drug delivery system that meets all the stringent needs that are specific to the drug molecule (physicochemical and stability factors), the patient (comfort and cosmetic appeal), the manufacturer (scale up and manufacturability) and most important the economy. The assessment of the performance of transdermal therapeutic devices designed for controlled drug release may result in a complex analytical issue and multidisciplinary studies focused on the evaluation of physicochemical, morphological and textural properties of the products may be required. This paper presents a review of transdermally applied formulations with emphasis on the evaluation of patches in a wide variety of evaluation parameters such as Physico-chemical evaluation, Adhesive evaluation, Skin irritation test, In-vitro, Ex-vivo, In-vivo techniques using animal models and human skin and Accelerated stability studies.

Keywords: Transdermal patches, Physico-chemical evaluation, Adhesive evaluation, Skin irritation test, In-vitro, Ex-vivo and In-vivo techniques, Accelerated stability studies.