Formulation and evaluation of sustained releasedomperidone hydrochloride transdermal patches to treat motion sickness

Objective: Transdermal route of drug delivery is superior than oral route because it avoids first pass effect, ensures better patient compliance, reduce dosing frequency especially in extended-release formulation and is easy to use. Domperidone HCl is DA2 receptor antagonistic and is used to prevent nausea and vomiting. The objective was to formulate a domperidone HCl extended-release transdermal drug delivery system to treat motion sickness. Methods: Five different formulations were formed using different solvents (methanol and dichloromethane) and polymers (HPMC and Eudragitl-100) by solvent evaporation method. 500mg of domperidone HCl was added in each patch and dibutyl phthalate was added as plasticizer. A 3%  w/v PVA layer was used as backing. All these formulations were evaluated for their physicochemical properties (weight variation, thickness, folding endurance and tensile strength), in-vitro drug release, drug contents determination, any incompatibility between drug and excipients by FTIR and DSC and skin irritation. Results: All formulations exhibited good physicochemical properties and percentage drug release during 24 hours was 79.3%, 97.1%, 96.8%, 74.7% and 59.7% respectively. F-YM showed maximum in-vitro drug release. The optimized formulation (F-YM) followed Korsmeyer Peppas release model with n=0.383 showing that the system was following dissolution dependent drug release. No interaction between drug and excipients was detected by DSC and FTIR. No skin irritation was detected. Conclusion: The extended release transdermal patches of domperidone HCl to treat motion sickness were prepared and formulation F-YM showed optimized behavior with maximum in vitro drug release.