Transdermal Delivery of Finasteride Invasomes Using Taguchi Robust Design Method

The study explored the use of invasomes, which are novel elastic vesicles, for the transdermal delivery of finasteride, a drug used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia and male pattern baldness. Invasomes, composed of phosphatidylcholine, ethanol, and terpene, were designed to enhance skin permeation by disrupting the lipid lamellae of the stratum corneum. The research utilized the Taguchi robust design method to optimize the formulation, focusing on factors like vesicle size, entrapment efficiency, and permeation. The study found that using 0.5% limonene increased permeation by 21.17 times compared to an aqueous solution, indicating that invasomes could be an effective lipid carrier for transdermal drug delivery.