Bioadhesive film for dermal and transdermal drug delivery

This paper describes an innovative transdermal drug delivery system, a monolaminated bioadhesive film in which the usual constituents of transdermal patches (backing, drug and adhesive) have been condensed in one single layer, denominated Patch-non-Patch. The main characteristics of the film is that it is not self-adhesive in the dry state but becomes adhesive only when applied on wet skin. This characteristic is due to the presence of a small amount of adhesive, unable to make the system self-adhesive, but capable of restoring the adhesiveness in contact with a small amount of water. From the results obtained to date, it appears that the technology Patch-non-Patch has the potentiality to be successfully applied to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic market. On the skin the film is flexible, invisible and adapts to all skin irregularities. The system has been shown to be highly efficient, releasing a high percentage of the active included in most cases. Additionally, the inclusion of other excipients can modulate drug delivery, thus improving the versatility of the product. Finally, the second generation Patch-non-Patch, made occlusive on the skin surface, can further broaden the potential application.