Advances in transdermal delivery of nanomedicine

Transdermal drug delivery is a technological approach to deliver therapeutic molecules through the skin, which has several advantages over conventional routes including oral, intravascular, subcutaneous, and transmucosal. This system provides painless, controlled action of therapeutic molecule delivery, and avoiding the first-pass metabolism, which helps to reduce the toxicity caused by extra consumption of the drug. In recent years, considerable progress has been made to overcome the challenges of skin barrier against drug molecule penetration and improving the efficiency of transdermal drug delivery. Although the transdermal drug delivery system has made a significant contribution to the clinical practice, it has not been recognized as an alternative to conventional hyperdermic injection and oral drug delivery. This chapter summarizes the recent advancement of the transdermal drug delivery system for therapeutic applications.