World's First Ibuprofen Patch Targets Painful Areas Directly Through the Skin

The world's first ever ibuprofen patch has been created. Scientists have developed a patch that delivers the drug directly through the skin to exactly where it is needed at a consistent dose rate.

The new technology is a transparent adhesive patch that can consistently deliver a prolonged high dose of the painkiller ibuprofen directly through the skin. In fact, the researchers have managed to incorporate up to 30 percent weight of the painkiller into the polymer matrix that sticks the patch to the patient's skin.

The patch delivers the drug at a steady rate up to 12 hours. This actually opens the way for the development of a range of novel long-acting over-the-counter pain relief products which can be used to treat common painful conditions like chronic back pain, neuralgia and arthritis without the need to take potentially damaging doses of the drug orally.

The key features of the new patch is that the patch remains highly tacky and thus adheres well to skin even when the drug load reaches levels as high as 30 percent weight/volume. The drug load, made possible by the new material technology, can be five to ten times that found in some currently used medical patches and gels.

"Many commercial patches surprisingly don't contain any pain relief agents at all, they simply soothe the body by a warming effect," said David Haddleton, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Our technology now means that we can for the first time produce patches that contain effective doses of active ingredients such as ibuprofen for which no patches currently exist. Also, we can improve the drug loading and stickiness of patches containing other active ingredients to improve patient comfort and outcome."

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