Emugel for topical drug delivery: A novel approach

Abstract

Over the last decades the treatment of disease has been accomplished by administering drug to human body via various routes namely oral, sublingual, rectal and parental etc. The topical drug delivery system generally used when the systems of drug administration fails or in local infection like fungal infection. The topical application of the drug offer the potential advantages for delivering the drug directly to the site of action and delivering the drug for extended period of time at the affected site that mainly acts at the related region. Topical drug delivery can be defined as the application of a drug containing formulation to the skin to directly treat cutaneous disorder e.g. acne or the cetaceous disorder. The various groups of semisolid preparations, the use of gels has expanded both in cosmetics and in pharmaceutical preparations. Despite of several advantages of gels there is a major limitation in delivery of hydrophobic drug moiety. This limitation can be overcome by the use of novel topical drug delivery i.e. Emulgel. Emulgel is one of the recent technologies in NDDS used topically having characteristics of dual control release i.e. emulsion as well as gel. Emulgel are having major advantages on novel vesicular systems as well as on conventional systems in various aspects. Emulgel for dermatological use have several favorable properties such as being thixotropic, greaseless, easily spreadable, emollient, non-staining; water soluble, longer shelf life, bio-friendly, transparent and pleasing appearance.