Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 25(5), 695–700 (1999) COMMUNICATION Pharmacokinetic Profile of a New Matrix-Type Transdermal Delivery System: Diclofenac Diethyl Ammonium Patch Kusum Devi* and K. L. K. Paranjothy Department of Pharmaceutics, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560 027, India ABSTRACT A transdermal delivery system containing the anti-inflammatory analgesic diclo- fenac diethyl ammonium in an ethyl hexyl acrylate and vinyl acetate pressure-sensi- tive adhesive system was developed for percutaneous absorption. These patches were subjected to in vitro permeation and permeation enhancement studies through rat skin using a specially designed diffusion cell. Further, the work deals with percu- taneous absorption studies carried out on both animals and human volunteers. The pharmacokinetic parameters calculated from the blood levels of the drug reveal a profile typical of a sustained-release formulation, with the ability to maintain ade- quate plasma levels for 24 hr (i.e., up to the next application). (Area under the curve [AUC]: 4.356  1.3 mcg/ml.hr in animals and 0.442  0.053 mcg/ml.hr in humans; T max was 8 hr in both the cases, whereas C max was 0.288  0.088 mcg/ml in animals and 0.034  .008 mcg/ml in human volunteers.) The amount of the drug bioavaila- ble for targeting the sites of action is lower than via the oral route, but the absorbed dose appears to be adequate for therapeutic use, particularly because of the absence of side effects. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. 695 Copyright  1999 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. www.dekker.com Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Saskatchewan on 07/04/12 For personal use only.