FORMULAION DEVELOPMENT

VAGINAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

The vagina offers numerous advantages as a site for drug delivery, such as easy access, prolonged retention of formulations, a great permeation area, high vascularisation, relative low enzymatic activity and the avoidance of first-pass metabolism. Vaginal administration of drugs, which are specifically used for the treatment of e.g. osteoporosis, hormone replacement therapy, contraception, infections, infertility and other female related conditions, is a feasible alternative to oral or parenteral administration. Due to the use of mucoadhesive polymers such as thiomers the intravaginal retention time of drug delivery systems can be significantly improved. Consequently the therapeutic efficacy of also locally acting drugs can be improved by their prolonged availability at the target membrane [Bernkop-Schnürch A. and Hornof M. (2003) Intravaginal drug delivery: design, challenges and solutions, Am.. J. Drug Deliv., 1, 241-254].

ThioMatrix is specialized on:

• vaginal permeation studies
  
  
• evaluation of the influence of permeation enhancers
  
  
• vaginal mucoadhesion in studies
  
  
• drug degradation on the vaginal mucosa
  
  
• design and optimisation of vaginal drug delivery systems
  
  
• in vivo studies
  

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