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UV-curable gel formulations: Potential drug carriers for the topical treatment of nail diseases

Kerai, LV; Hilton, S; Murdan, S; (2015) UV-curable gel formulations: Potential drug carriers for the topical treatment of nail diseases. International Journal of Pharmaceutics , 492 (1-2) pp. 177-190. 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.07.020. Green open access

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Abstract

Nail diseases are common, cause significant distress and treatments are far from successful. Our aim was to investigate the potential of UV-curable gels - currently used as cosmetics - as topical drug carriers for their treatment. These formulations have a long residence on the nail, which is expected to increase patient compliance and the success of topical therapy. The gels are composed of the diurethane dimethacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone, an antifungal drug (amorolfine HCl or terbinafine HCl) and an organic liquid (ethanol or NMP) as drug solvent. Following its application to a substrate and exposure to a UVA lamp for 2 min, the gel polymerises and forms a smooth, glossy and amorphous film, with negligible levels of residual monomers. No drug-polymer interactions were found and drug loading did not affect the film's properties, such as thickness, crystallinity and transition temperatures. In contrast, the organic solvent did influence the film's properties; NMP-containing films had lower glass transition temperatures, adhesion and water resistance than ethanol-based ones. Water-resistance being a desired property, ethanol-based formulations were investigated further for stability, drug release and ungual permeation. The films were stable under accelerated stability testing conditions. Compared to terbinafine, amorolfine was released to a greater extent, had a higher ungual flux, but a lower concentration in the nailplate. However, both drugs were present at considerably high levels in the nail when their MICs are taken into account. We thus conclude that UV-curable gels are promising candidates as topical nail medicines.

Type: Article
Title: UV-curable gel formulations: Potential drug carriers for the topical treatment of nail diseases
Location: Netherlands
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.07.020
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.07.020
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Acrylates, Onychomycosis, Permeation, Release, UV gel, Ungual, Administration, Topical, Antifungal Agents, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical, Drug Carriers, Drug Liberation, Ethanol, Gels, Humans, Methacrylates, Methylmethacrylates, Morpholines, Nail Diseases, Nails, Naphthalenes, Propiophenones, Pyrrolidinones, Ultraviolet Rays, Urethane
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Pharma and Bio Chemistry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Pharmaceutics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1489991
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