European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

AN OVERVIEW ON TRANSUNGUAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Devyani Srivastva*, Tarun Kumar Sharma, Bhartendu Sharma, Gurpreet Singh

ABSTRACT

Transungual drug delivery system is associated with the drug delivery through the hard keratinized nail plate to treat the diseases of nail itself in conditions like onychomycosis and nail psoriasis. Topical therapy is highly desirable in treating nail disorders due to its localized effects, which results in minimal adverse systemic events and possibly improved adherence The absorption of drugs into the nail unit, to the nail plate, is highly desirable to treat nail disorders, However, the effectiveness of topical therapies is limited by minimal drug permeability through the nail plate. The human nail forms a resistant barrier to the topical penetration of drugs. Thus, treatment of nail disorders, such as fungal infections, remains a challenge because of the difficulty encountered in achieving therapeutic concentrations of drugs at the site of infection, which is often under the nail. The present discussion explores the difficulties in penetration of drug across nail plate and enhancement of bioavailability of antifungal drug. These difficulties occur due to lack of understanding of both barrier properties of nail and formulation to achieve the enhanced ungual delivery. Mainly, nail plate which is the hard part of the nail is responsible for penetration of drug across it. In order to successfully deliver the drug across the nail, it is necessary to know about the anatomy and physiology of nail barrier.

Keywords: Transungual drug delivery, Onychomycosis, fungal infection, Nail drug delivery.