Development of transdermal therapeutic formulation of CNS5161, a novel NMDA receptor antagonist, by utilizing pressure-sensitive adhesives II: Improved transdermal absorption and evaluation of efficacy and safety

Abstract The aim of this study was to prepare a transdermal therapeutic formulation of CNS5161, an NMDA receptor antagonist developed as a drug for neuropathic pain. Since a silicone pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) was found to be the best PSA for CNS5161 among six different PSAs examined in our previous study, the effects of the loading concentration of CNS5161 on release and rat skin permeability were investigated using silicone PSAs. The release of CNS5161 was elevated with an increase in the drug concentration from 1% to 14%. The transdermal flux at the steady state reached a plateau at 8% and over, while crystallization of CNS5161 was not observed for any formulation even at high drug concentrations. The drug concentration in rat skin at the steady state was also saturated at 8% and over, which correlated well with the transdermal flux at the steady state. Therefore, skin permeation clearance defined to the skin concentration at the steady state was almost constant at 0.2 1/h from 2% to 14% of CNS5161, which suggests that drug concentrations in the skin would be a driving force for transport of the drug to the receptor side. Since increasing the concentration of CNS5161 in the PSA patch was not able to elevate the transdermal flux, 12 formulations containing several permeation enhancers were examined to improve the transdermal transport of CNS5161. Among them, the formulation containing propylene glycol, diisopropyl adipate, and polyvinylpyrrolidone significantly increased the transdermal flux by approximately 1.8-fold by improving the diffusivity of CNS5161 in the skin, and also significantly enhanced the analgesic effect of CNS5161. This formulation caused only slight skin irritation, which indicated that it would be a promising transdermal therapeutic system for CNS5161.