(60d) Transdermal Drug Delivery: Translation From Chemical Engineering Laboratories Into the Clinic

Transdermal drug delivery provides an advantageous alternative to injections for delivering drugs into the body. It avoids the pain and needle—phobia associated with injections while providing sustained release of drugs. However, delivery of drugs into skin is limited by the high barrier properties of skin owing largely to its topmost layer, the stratum corneum. Accordingly, applications of transdermal delivery are limited to a handful of small drugs. Several technologies have been developed to enhance skip permeability to drugs after topical application. These technologies utilize physical and chemical means to reversibly permeabilize stratum corneum. These technologies have yielded devices as well as formulations that can be applied on the skin for local and systemic delivery of drugs. My presentation will present an overview of these technologies with an emphasis on their transition into the clinic. Applications of these technologies in the clinical setting and clinical problems addressed by these technologies will be discussed.