Viagra 2.0: Delivered via nanotech patch?

Viagra delivered via a patch with nanocarriers might work better than the blue pill for erectile dysfunction, according to researchers in Egypt. While oral delivery does work, there is too long a wait and too many side effects, they say. So, writing in the International Journal of Nanotechnology, the team proposed what it believes is a more-efficient method: transdermal delivery to get the meds into the blood sooner.

Also, they say, 70% of an oral dose of sildenafil citrate (Viagra) goes to waste because it is metabolized by the liver. Improved delivery via the transdermal route would avoid several side-effects as well as making onset of activity much quicker. Also, explains pharmaceutical scientist Yosra S.R. Elnaggar of Alexandria University, he and his colleagues have found a solution to other failed attempts at creating a Viagra patch. They'd do it either by encapsulating the drug in nanoemulsion based systems that can cross membranes or using a self-emulsifying nanocarrier that has its own built-in surfactant. Without these innovations, the drug is not very soluble and has trouble crossing membranes.

"Nanoemulsion elaborated could significantly enhance transdermal permeation of SC with higher initial permeation and prolonged release," the authors say.

- read a report in in-PharmaTechnologist
- and Nanowerk filed a story
- or take a look at the abstract