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Mechanistic Insights of Formulation Approaches for the Treatment of Nail Infection: Conventional and Novel Drug Delivery Approaches

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Abstract

Onychomycosis is a chronic disorder that is difficult to manage and hard to eradicate with perilous trends to relapse. Due to increased prevalence of HIV, use of immunosuppressant drugs and lifestyle-related factors, population affected with fungal infection of nail (Onychomycosis) happens to increase extensively in last two decades. Modalities available for the treatment of onychomycosis include systemically administered antifungals, mechanical procedures, and topical drug therapy. But the efficacy of the most of approaches to deliver drug at targeted site, i.e., deep-seated infected nail bed is limited due to compact and highly keratinized nail structure. A series of advanced formulation approaches, such as transfersomes, liposomes, nano/micro emulsion, nail lacquers etc., have been attempted to improve the drug penetration into nail plate more efficiently. The manuscript reviews these formulation approaches with their possible mechanisms by which they improve the drug penetration.Comparative analysis of available treatment modalities for onychomycosis has been provided with pros and cons of each alternatives. Additionally, ongoing research about the application of biological materials such as modified cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), plant-derived proteins, and synthetic antimicrobial peptidomimetics have also been explored.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutics, Ramanbhai Patel College of Pharmacy, Charotar University of Science & Technology (CHARUSAT), CHARUSAT Campus-Changa, Anand, Gujarat, 388 421, India

    Agrawal Vikas, Patel Rashmin & Patel Mrunali

  2. Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Amneal Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd, Office No. 901-911, 9th Floor, Iskon Elegance, S.G.Highway, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 380 015, India

    Agrawal Vikas & Rahul B. Chavan

  3. Section for Biologics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thanki Kaushik

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  1. Agrawal Vikas
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Vikas, A., Rashmin, P., Mrunali, P. et al. Mechanistic Insights of Formulation Approaches for the Treatment of Nail Infection: Conventional and Novel Drug Delivery Approaches. AAPS PharmSciTech 21, 67 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-019-1591-9

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