Minoxidil as topical solution in aqueous vehicle for treatment of alopecia has a drawback of limited contact time with the scalp. Hence there is a need for suitable topical drug delivery system which would increase the contact time leading to an increase in local drug concentration and therapeutic effect. The aim of the present study was to formulate, develop and evaluate minoxidil gel for enhanced topical drug delivery using a suitable method which will prevent the formation of polymer-minoxidil complex. Formulations were prepared by using carbopol 934, carbopol 941, carbopol 974 and acupec HV 505 HC as gelling agent. The prepared formulations were evaluated for appearance, pH, drug content, viscosity, spreadability and in-vitro diffusion studies. The developed formulations were found to be stable, non-irritant to albino mice. The in-vitro drug release was found to be 97.71% over a period of 8 hrs. The similarity factor (f2) was found to be 73.48 for optimized formulation indicating that the release was similar to that of marketed formulation (Tugain 2%). The hair growth initiation time and hair growth completion time of optimized formulation was found to be 8 and 22 days respectively. The average hair length measured on 14th, 21st and 28th day after applying optimized formulation were found to be 9.90±0.20 mm, 14.67±0.19 mm. and 18.90±0.18 mm. In-vivo studies revealed that the optimized formulation was as effective as marketed formulation for topical delivery of minoxidil.
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