The pharmaceutical industry is investing in the growing development of transdermal treatment options for various conditions.
Patches, electrodes, and other methods of delivering medicine through the skin have been growing for some time.
“In addition, an increase in adoption of transdermal drug delivery for peripheral artery diseases, and emerging economies such as China, India and others, will create new opportunities for the transdermal drug delivery market,” the report explains.
Amongst new pharmaceutical technologies being further explored, a widely successful treatment option for Hyperhidrosis — the excessive sweating condition — could see a boost in adoption.
Introduced over 50 years ago, Iontophoresis has been successfully used as a treatment option for excessive sweating as a niche solution to a niche condition.
This technology works by sending minor electric charges through a metal plate attached to the affected area when submerged in water. Although stainless steel 304 is the single most common grade, many professional Iontophoresis kits prefer an aluminum alloy. Many people are allergic to nickel and chrome, which are present in most stainless steel alloys.
Much is yet to be learned about this off-beat transdermal treatment. In fact, the exact way Iontophoresis triggers the uncontrolled sweat mechanism in Hyperhidrosis patients is yet to be determined.
That said, Iontophoresis is effective 98.5% of the time, lending some credence to the value of further research into exactly why it works.
The applications for Iontophoresis as a transdermal option for treatment don’t end with excessive sweating. Pain from mild muscular injuries has also been successfully mitigated using this process with additional topical anti-inflammatory medication.
Transdermal treatments have proven useful across the board as an alternative Route of Administration (ROA) for common drugs, and that is driving the market forward.
There are difficulties in using treatments of this kind, namely that the skin’s function is to keep things out of the body.
Solutions are actively being developed to solve this issue. Microneedles are incredibly small and pain-free alternatives to traditional transcellular or intercellular transdermal technology and are viewed as revolutionary in the medical community.
This booming medical technology certainly shows promise moving forward. Although there are great financial barriers to research and development, it is now becoming clear that transdermal administration could become a favored ROA of future medical professionals.
The hope amongst the community is to develop an effective ROA that is painless, nanoparticle medicine ready, and bioavailability efficient. The hope of Hyperhidrosis patients is that they will stop sweating.