Microneedle Aided Transdermal Delivery of Antimigraine Drugs

Microneedle (MN) assisted transdermal delivery is a novel technology that can overcome the stratum corneum barrier of skin and enable successful permeation enhancement of drugs. Zolmitriptan (ZT) and Rizatriptan (RT) are antimigraine drugs that show poor and variable bioavailability when administered as currently available formulations, owing to hepatic first pass metabolism. Transdermal delivery with MN application as permeation enhancement strategy was tried to efficiently delivering these molecules. For this purpose, poke and patch approach was employed. A significant enhancement in transdermal permeation of both the drugs was found with MN application. It was also found that design parameters like the MN length, needle density, etc., play a major role in such enhancement. Overall, MN application, especially via the poke and patch technique seems like a very promising technology that may hold the key to open up transdermal delivery as the major route for drug delivery in the future.