Formulation and In vitro-Evaluation of Transdermal Patch of an Antihypertensive Drug –Atenolol

Drug delivery through skin would provide a useful alternative to oral drug delivery, which has numerous side effects. Transdermal drug delivery systems are becoming more popular in the field of modern pharmaceutics. The purpose of this research was to develop a matrix-type transdermal therapeutic system containing drug Atenolol with different ratios of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymeric systems (HPMC, EC and PVP) by the solvent evaporation technique by using 30% w/w propylene glycol as plasticizer, tween 80 as permeation enhancer and 4%PVA as baking membrane. The physico chemical properties like λmax determination, solubility determination, permeability coefficient determination, partition coefficient determination and physic chemical compatibility determination were done. The physic chemical properties of drug found out were in accordance with IP standards and the physico chemical compatibility of the drug and the polymers studied by infrared spectroscopy suggested absence of any incompatibility. Formulated transdermal films were physically evaluated with regard to thickness, weight variation, drug content, flatness, folding endurance, percentage of moisture content and water vapour transmission rate. Most of the formulations indicated good physical stability. In-vitro permeation studies performed by Franz diffusion cells. From the studies HPMC and P       VP are selected for optimisation and further studies are carried with these polymers with different ratios.