European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ADVANCES IN NIOSOMAL GEL-BASED DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Naveen V.*

ABSTRACT

Topical and transdermal drug delivery have certain advantages over the oral routes, including avoiding first-pass metabolism, and providing better localized effects. Of course, topical and transdermal routes contain inherent limitations, most notably the stratum corneum, which is an effective barrier to most therapeutics. Therefore, vesicular systems such as niosomes have been explored extensively to bypass this barrier. Niosomes, when combined with hydrogels into niosomal gels, can improve drug permeation, retention, and higher potential therapeutic effects. This review distinguishes recent work with niosomal gels as drug delivery systems for several different therapeutics, such as fusidic acid, azithromycin, ketoconazole, baclofen, etodolac, piroxicam, erythromycin and serratiopeptidase. This review discusses method of formulation, characterization techniques, drug specific advantages, and comparative performance to conventional formulations. Niosomal gels have great potential for drug delivery across the skin barrier, especially biologics or therapeutics in inflammatory, antimicrobial, and enzymatic drug classes.

Keywords: Niosomes; Niosomal gel; Topical drug delivery; Transdermal delivery; Skin permeation; Ketoconazole; Fusidic acid; Azithromycin; Baclofen; Etodolac; Piroxicam; Erythromycin; Serratiopeptidase.