Drug delivery systems for vaginal administration

Drug delivery systems for vaginal administration

Oral presentation

Viara Tenekeva, Petya Peneva, Velichka Andonova, Margarita Kassarova
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Plovdiv

Vaginal route of drug administration can be used for local as well as systemic effect, attaining sustained therapeutic levels compared to conventional oral route. Vaginal administration permits application of drug delivery systems with modified release, longer interval between doses, improving user compliance. Some vaginal dosage forms allow self-insertion and removal of the dosage form like vaginal films, gel, pessaries, etc. Also, avoiding the fluctuations resulting from daily intake may also reduce the incidence of side effects. However, several drawbacks like cultural sensitivity, personal hygiene, gender specificity, local irritation and influence on sexual intercourse need to be addressed during the design of a vaginal formulation. Formulation factors affecting vaginal drug delivery are physicochemical properties of the drug used; and hydrophilicity, viscosity and mucoadhesive properties of the drug formulation which influence the drug release and residence time. A number of active pharmaceutical ingredients have been reported to exert greater effects when administered vaginally as against oral route. Towards the development of vaginal drug delivery systems, the most often used polymers are polycaprolactone, polylactic acid, polylactic-co-glycolic acid, polymethylmethacrylate, polystyrene, etc. These polymers possess good mucoadhesiveness, increasing the residence time and providing a higher bioavailability. Vaginal rings, vaginal films, vaginal inserts, mucoadhesive in situ gelling systems, medicated vaginal tampons, and bioadhesive effervescent tablets as innovative drug formulations are in the focus of this research.