Microencapsulation in Dermatologic Medications
Retin-A Micro
A Dermatology Times article about new drug technologies for treating dermatologic diseases highlights microencapsulation’s use in medicines for treating skin problems. From the article:
“Microencapsulation represents another type of intelligent delivery system that has been used to create a number of new products. By controlling the release rate of such medications as tretinoin (Retina-A Micro, Ortho Dermatologics) or benzoyl peroxide (NeoBenz Micro, Skin Medica), this type of delivery system helps to reduce irritation. Encapsulation of these active ingredients also enables compatibility with another active ingredient applied to the same site, Dr. Fleischer notes.”
“Creating Acanya presented a multitude of challenges because the goals were to optimize the skin tolerability and bioavailability of the two active ingredients while assuring their compatibility and product stability, he adds.
Dr. Dow’s answer to these challenges was to use a microparticle dispersion of benzoyl peroxide, which would optimize deposition in the follicular infundibulum, and propylene glycol as a functional excipient, which (in a low concentration) would provide in situ solubilization of the benzoyl peroxide and targeted delivery to the pilosebaceous apparatus without causing irritation. “