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Abstract
The first ever symposium dedicated solely to drug delivery to the nail following topical application was held on the 2nd April 2007, in London, UK, organised by Dr Clive Roper (Charles River Laboratories, Scotland) and Dr Sudaxshina Murdan (School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK), under the auspices of Skin Forum. The 1-day meeting was attended by ∼ 35 delegates from industry, academia and hospitals, and provided a much-needed forum for the presentation and discussion of research and problems in this emerging field. Topical drug delivery is especially suitable for onychomycosis (fungal infections of the nail plate and/or nail bed) and nail psoriasis, which affect 2 – 13 and 1 – 3% of the general population, respectively, and make up the bulk of nail disorders. Topical therapy would avoid the adverse events and drug interactions of systemic antifungal agents and the pain of injection when antipsoriatic agents are injected into affected nail folds. However, successful topical therapy is extremely challenging due to the very low permeability of the nail plate. Five speakers spoke about various aspects of topical drug delivery to the nail, including review of the nail plate structure, function, diseases, their existing therapies (systemic and topical), limitations and global sales. The need for effective topical drug delivery to the nail to overcome the problems associated with present treatment, and the fact that there are few topical formulations available for the treatment of nail fungal infections and psoriasis, and the even fewer effective formulations, was highlighted.