Nicotine transdermal systems: pharmaceutical and clinical aspects.

Smoking is creating a burden on the healthcare budgets all over the world. Management of nicotine dependence is difficult due to the so-called pleasurable effects experienced by smokers. Among the various treatment approaches, nicotine replacement therapy, where nicotine from cigarettes is replaced with nicotine from a relatively safer delivery vehicle, has been successful. Transdermal delivery of nicotine is an effective type of nicotine replacement therapy due to inherent pharmacokinetic advantages over other routes of delivery. Several nicotine transdermal delivery systems are available to suit the varying needs of smokers and have been found to be clinically patient friendly and well tolerated. This review focuses on the various clinical and pharmaceutical aspects of nicotine with special emphasis on transdermal delivery systems.