FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF TRANSFERSOMES OF ECONAZOLE FOR EFFECTIVE FUNGAL TREATMENT

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to formulate and characterize Econazole loaded transfersomal gel for antifungal activity. Econazole is a broad-spectrum imidazole antifungal agent that belongs to BCS Class II. Due to poor solubility, Econazole is incompletely absorbed after oral administration and bioavailability vary among individuals. Topical treatment of fungal infections is usually preferred, but the barrier is to cross stratum corneum, so formulating the drug in Transfersomes solved this problem. Prepared formulations of transfersomes were optimized on basis of vesicle size, shape, surface charge and entrapment efficiency. In order to predict and correlate the in vitro econazole permeation behavior from these transfersomes through semi-permeable membrane, it is necessary to fit into a suitable mathematical model. The in vitro drug permeation data from formulation F-12 containing econazole through semi-permeable membrane was evaluated kinetically by various mathematical models like zero-order, first-order, Higuchi, and Korsmeyer-Peppas Model. The results were obtained which showed that transfersomal gel was a promising candidate for transdermal delivery with targeted and prolonged release of a drug.