A new and innovative method of delivering medication painlessly to patients is called transdermal drug delivery (TDD) is gaining traction with healthcare providers globally. TDD involves the use of a patch, ointment, cream, or spray, is usually applied to the skin, and slowly releases a specific dose of medication into the body over time. This method of drug delivery has significant advantages when it comes to treating certain medical conditions, but what exactly is TDD and how is it used in healthcare? Let’s take a closer look below.
What Is Transdermal Drug Delivery?
Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) is a process by which drugs are administered through the skin instead of through oral ingestion or injection. Rather than taking a pill or getting an injection, a healthcare provider or patient applies the TDD solution to their skin that slowly releases medication into their bloodstream. The medication can be delivered over several hours or days depending on the type of disease being treated and its severity.
The drug initially penetrates through the stratum corneum and then passes through the deeper epidermis and dermis without drug accumulation in the dermal layer. When a drug reaches the dermal layer, it becomes available for systemic absorption via the dermal microcirculation.
The Advantages of TDD
One major advantage of TDD over traditional methods of delivering medications is that TDD offers better control over dosage levels than other methods because the amount delivered at any given time remains consistent. This helps ensure that patients receive an appropriate dose without having to worry about taking too much or too little.
TDD can provide a non-invasive alternative to parenteral routes, thus circumventing issues such as needle phobia. It also allows for a large surface area of skin and the ease of access allows many placement options on the skin for transdermal absorption.
Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic profiles of drugs are more uniform with fewer peaks, thus minimizing the risk of toxic side effects. It can improve patient compliance due to the reduction of dosing frequencies and is also suitable for patients who are unconscious or vomiting, or those who rely on self-administration.
Additionally, since the patch does not need to be ingested or injected, there are fewer side effects associated with using TDD compared to other forms of administration.
Finally, TDD can really help to reduce costs for patients since they only need to apply one patch rather than taking multiple pills throughout the day.
How Is TDD Used in Healthcare?
TDD is most used for chronic pain management and for providing relief from various types of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease as well as depression and anxiety disorders. It also can be used to treat other physical conditions such as arthritis and chronic back pain.
The use of TDD patches have been developed specifically for smoking cessation which deliver nicotine directly into the bloodstream in order to help people quit smoking more easily and effectively. Additionally, TDD is rising in popularity for administering antibiotics topically to wounds and skin infections, enabling patients to heal faster without the common side effects.
How ViaDerma is Helping the Healthcare Industry with Innovative TDD
One company on a mission to deliver world-class TDD solutions to leaders in healthcare is ViaDerma. Based in Los Angeles, CA, ViaDerma is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing and licensing broad-spectrum antibiotics for infectious skin diseases and wound care treatments to healthcare providers around the world.
Their innovative, patent-pending dual carrier transdermal drug delivery technology can transform oral medications into topical ointments and deliver rapid results to the desired site of action. ViaDerma does this exceptionally well with their lead product Vitastem Ultra, one of the strongest first aid & topical antibiotics in the world, this ‘miracle worker’ boasts being 10x more effective at healing wounds & fighting infections when compared to every other product it’s been tested against the past decade.
With the rampant rise in HAIs (healthcare-acquired infections) and SSIs (surgical site infections), the concerns are growing quickly in the healthcare industry to not only combat, yet eliminate HAIs from healthcare facilities, as millions of people acquire them while hundreds of thousands die from complications that should be preventable in the first place.
HAIs threaten patient safety and the overall quality of health care. These are infections people often acquire while receiving medical care in any health care setting, such as a hospital, surgery center, or nursing home. HAIs can be associated with procedures such as surgery and devices like catheters or ventilators, or from open wounds not properly cared for.
At any given time in US hospitals alone, nearly 1 in 3 hospitalized patients have at least 1 HAI. There are more than 680,000 infections and billions of dollars in excess health care costs related to HAIs across the United States every single year. Although there has been significant progress made in preventing some HAI types over the past decade, there is still so much more work that needs to be done.
The bigger and growing concern is that many of these infections are caused by antibiotic-resistant (AR) pathogens. HAIs and other infections can also lead to sepsis, which is life-threatening and causes an estimated 1.7 million illnesses and 270,000 deaths annually in the United States. Reducing HAIs across all health care settings is part of ViaDerma’s mission to help improve safety conditions, prevent infections, combat AR pathogens and its complications, and reduce excess health care costs that hurt everyone.
The Antibiotic-Resistant MRSA Challenge to Healthcare
MRSA (flesh-eating bacteria) is a common type of bacteria spread in health care facilities and the community. MRSA can cause difficult-to-treat staph infections because of resistance to some antibiotics and is often linked to life-threatening bloodstream infections, pneumonia, and surgical site infections, which can lead to sepsis and death.
Although MRSA infections are dropping overall, progress to prevent MRSA bloodstream infections in health care settings has been slowing. In addition to this red flag, the ongoing opioid epidemic may also be contributing to community-associated MRSA infections and also slowing progress to reduce MRSA infections overall. ViaDerma can help reverse this with topical antibiotic spray, Vitastem Ultra. From treating and preventing infections against AR bacteria like MRSA unlike any other product, healthcare really needs to consider adopting and accelerating the use of Vitastem Ultra as a solution to ridding facilities of MRSA infections.
The Bottom Line on TDD
Transdermal drug delivery provides an effective way for patients to receive medications without having to take multiple pills throughout the day or get injections. Its controlled dosage levels offer greater control over how much medication is being released at any given time, making it safer and more cost-effective for patients who may need long-term treatment for chronic pain or for problematic infectious skin diseases and healing wounds.
ViaDerma’s lead product Vitastem Ultra is an FDA-registered drug and one of the world’s strongest topical antibiotics available. Vitastem is so powerful due to the innovative TDD methods, natural ingredients, and chemistry used to treat wounds, skin diseases, and prevent infections. To date, Vitastem has been highly successful at killing all harmful Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria that have been available for testing, such as acne, burns, eczema, psoriasis, and more. In addition to these skin conditions, Vitastem can kill antibiotic-resistant bacterial skin infections like staph & MRSA (flesh-eating bacteria) quickly, unlike any other products available.
As research continues to pour into advancing innovation for transdermal drug delivery systems, we can expect more applications of this technology in healthcare settings in the near future. In the meantime, keep an eye on ViaDerma, as they’re proving to be a key player in global healthcare.
