Study of Polymer Nanofilms Using for High-Throughput Screening in the Development of Transdermal Therapeutic System

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) require efficient drug delivery membranes.
• High-throughput screening (HTS) accelerates the development of new TTS.
• Polymer nanofilms (PNFs) offer potential for advanced membrane applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel polymer nanofilm (PNF) for high-throughput screening (HTS) in transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) development.
• To assess the drug permeability of a PLLA/PMHS (1/1) PNF compared to a standard membrane.
• To determine the correlation between PNF drug permeability and human skin permeability.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a poly(L-lactic acid)/poly(methylhydrosiloxane) (PLLA/PMHS) blend nanofilm (PNF) at a 1:1 weight ratio.
• Evaluation of drug permeability across the PNF and Strat-M® using 12 drugs with varying lipophilicity (logP: -4.70 to 3.86).
• Analysis of lag time and apparent permeability coefficients, and correlation with human skin permeability data.

Main Results:

• The PLLA/PMHS (1/1) PNF exhibited significantly shorter lag times than Strat-M® for 10 out of 12 drugs.
• A sea-island structure with a PMHS-rich phase was suggested to enhance drug diffusion.
• A high correlation (r=0.929) was found between PNF and human skin permeability coefficients.

Conclusions:

• The PLLA/PMHS (1/1) PNF demonstrates reliable prediction of drug permeability through human skin.
• This PNF is a promising candidate for high-throughput screening in TTS development.
• The study highlights the potential of polymer alloying for creating advanced drug delivery materials.