The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Diffusivity of drug actives in transdermal drug delivery (TDD)
Author:	Gendelberg, Natali R.
View Online:	njit-etd2016-050 (xii, 64 pages ~ 1.5 MB pdf)
Department:	Committee for the Interdisciplinary Program in Materials Science and Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Materials Science and Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Ravindra, N. M. (Committee chair) Gogos, Costas G. (Committee member) Ioannidis, Nicolas (Committee member) Jaffe, Michael (Committee member)
Date:	2016-05
Keywords:	Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) Skin permeability
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Transdermal Drug Delivery (TDD) through skin patches has many advantages including the following: slow and continuous administration of the therapeutic over long periods of time, timely dosage, accessibility, kinetic maneuverability, elimination of the “First Pass Effect” and negative side effects on the digestive tract. All of the above justify investment into further development of TDD therapies, despite the skin permeability restrictions posed on size and charge by the skin. As skin permeability varies between all individuals based on age, ethnicity and lifestyle, the determination of the proper drug dosages to be contained in the skin patch is highly reliant on clinical trials. The objective of this research is to further investigate the application of components of a modified Duda-Zalinsky Equation (DZE) for drug diffusivity through a polymer matrix, to account for physical enhancers added to the Heated Lidocaine-Tetracaine Patch based on diffusivity results obtained from tests run in a Franz Cell apparatus. Pre-clinical trials computational estimation of the drug’s diffusion properties with respect to the polymer matrix and skin will provide for safer clinical trials, with testing dosages that are closer to the therapeutic drug concentration in the blood.