Fabrication and design of transdermal fluconazole spray

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to formulate fluconazole transdermal spray for obtaining modified drug transport using eutectic mixture, ethyl cellulose, polyethylene oxide and alcohol. The formulated products were characterized. The selection of the optimized batch was done considering the results of drug transport in the first hour, the time required for 90% drug transport, viscosity and spray angle of the formulations. The inclusion of eutectic mixture, consisting of equal parts of camphor and menthol, showed improved drug transport through rat skin. The optimized batch exhibited larger mean zone of inhibition (antifungal activity), efficient in vivo activity and short term stability.

Keywords::

• Modified release
• transdermal spray
• fluconazole
• antifungal activity
• in vivo activity
• short term stability study

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for providing senior research fellowship (SRF) to one of the authors for this project. We are thankful to Zydus Cadila (India) for kindly providing the gift samples. We are grateful to Dr Atit Shah of Sarthak Laboratories (Ahmedabad, India) for helping us in carrying out antifungal activity of the samples at his pathological laboratory free of cost. We wish to extend special thanks to Dr Umesh Karia, Dr Belaben Shah and Dr M. M. Prabhakar of Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad, India, for providing guidance in the in vivo study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.