Transdermal Nanocarriers: New Challenges and Prospectives in the Treatment of Diabetes mellitus

In recent years nanotechnology in drug delivery systems has opened new areas for sustained release of therapeutic drugs to the site of action. The new generation of modern drug delivery systems has more advantages than their traditional systems. Infact wide spectrum applications of nanotechnology in pharmaceutical formulations are changing the scientific landscape of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. Various pharmaceutical nanotechnology based systems which can be termed as nanopharmaceuticals have brought about revolutionary changes in drug delivery as well as in the field of nanomedicine. Today 75% of drugs are taken through oral route and are found not to be as effective as desired. To improve such characters transdermal drug delivery system was emerged. Administration of therapeutic agents topically offers many advantages over conventional, oral and invasive methods of drug delivery. Several important advantages of transdermal drug delivery are limitation of hepatic first pass metabolism, enhancement of therapeutic efficiency and maintenance of steady plasma level of the drug. The present review summarizes the most important applications of nanotechnology in drug delivery systems, the need for transdermal drug delivery systems, their advantages, limitations and the recent developments of such systems in the treatment of diabetes.