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Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers Chemical Methods in Penetration Enhancement pp 151–161Cite as

Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems Using Supersaturation

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Abstract

Delivery of drugs through the skin is challenging because of the excellent barrier properties of the stratum corneum (SC). Several enhancement methods including chemical and physical means have been used to overcome the barrier but these methods disrupt the stratum corneum. More recently, using supersaturated systems that contain drug concentrations higher than its solubility has been evaluated as an enhancement technique. Supersaturated states are thermodynamically unstable and tend to crystallize either during preparation or during storage. However, a number of polymers act as anti-nucleants and keep the drug in solution by inhibiting the crystallization process. There are numerous studies that show that significant permeation enhancement can be achieved by using such polymers to stabilize supersaturation. However, efforts in commercializing this technology have been minimal mainly due to several challenges that need to be overcome prior to successful commercialization. If these challenges are overcome, supersaturation as a permeation enhancement technique can become an innovative commercial strategy for transdermal drug delivery systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research and Development, DermPathe Pharmaceuticals, 108 Route 31 South, Washington, NJ, 07882, USA

    Vishwas Rai & Lakshmi Raghavan

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  1. Vishwas Rai
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  2. Lakshmi Raghavan
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Correspondence to Lakshmi Raghavan .

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  1. Apoteka "Beograd", Belgrade, Serbia

    Nina Dragicevic

  2. San Francisco, California, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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Rai, V., Raghavan, L. (2015). Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems Using Supersaturation. In: Dragicevic, N., Maibach, H. (eds) Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers Chemical Methods in Penetration Enhancement. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45013-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45013-0_11

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