Designing nanoscale polymer carriers for transdermal drug delivery

SOCED 12

Scott Michael Grayson, sgrayson@tulane.edu, Department of Chemistry, Tulane University, 2015 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118
Transdermal delivery offers a fast, cheap, reliable method for administering thearpeutics, but is complicated primarily by the lipophilic barrier function of the stratum corneum. This has been demonstrated by a handful of amphiphilic drug molecules, such as nicotine and scopalamine, which have recently become commercially available in the form of topical patches. However, because most therapeutics are polar, they are incapable of crossing the stratum corneum and into the bloodstream. Amphiphilic polymer nanocarriers have been prepared, which demonstrate the ability to encapsulate and compatibilize polar compounds with lipophilic environments. Ongoing investigations will study the ability of these carriers to transport polar therapeutics across the skin in porcine model, with the eventual goal of developing a general technique for transdermal drug delivery.