Rizatriptan Transdermal Patches for the Treatment of Migraine

Transdermal patches deliver the drug through the skin in a controlled and predetermined manner in order to increase the therapeutic efficacy of drug. Rizatriptan a 2nd generation triptan that has a favorable tolerability profile and patients have reported greater satisfaction. The aim of the present work was to formulate and evaluate transdermal patches of Rizatriptan. For the current study, the transdermal patch containing drug with different ratios of polymeric combinations and varying plasticizer concentration were prepared. The patch was fabricated by solvent casting method. The casting solvents and plasticizers used were ethanol and propylene glycol respectively. The polymers used were HPMC, PVP and EC. The fabricated patches were evaluated for its physicochemical study. From the studies it concluded that F5 (EC and HPMC of 1:4 ratio and plasticizer 2 ml) whose thickness 0.124 mm, weight variation 110 mg, folding endurance 328 times, percentage moisture absorption of 5%, tensile strength of 0.78 kg/cm2, drug content of 90.42 % and in vitro drug release of 96.3 % may be selected as the optimized formulation. The released kinetics of the optimized formulation follows first order. It can be concluded that it is possible to fabricate a transdermal delivery of Rizatriptan for treatment migraine where the patient acceptance and tolerability profile is high.