The College of Pharmacy discussed the MSc thesis entitled “Preparation and Characterization of Posaconazole as Vaginal Mucoadhesive Nanoemulgel” by the student Mohammed Sadiq Hamza and the supervisor, Assistant Professor Dr. Zainab Thabit Salih, at the Pharmaceutics Department.
The study aimed to develop and characterize a vaginal mucoadhesive nanoemulgel (VMNG) of Posaconazole )PCZ( for the treatment of vaginal fungal infections.
The study included systematic solubility screening of PCZ using several oils, surfactants, as well as co-surfactants. Also, the pseudo-ternary phase illustrations were constructed to detect the optimal regions for nanoemulsions. Then, several formulations were prepared and evaluated through visual inspection, thermodynamic stability testing, light transmittance measurements, pH measurements, drug content analysis, dilution tests, the polydispersity index (PDI), and droplet size analysis. Among the tested formulations, the optimal nanoemulsion consisted of 30% Imwitor® 988, 30% Tween 20 and Transcutol mixture at a ratio of 1:1, 40% distilled water, and 1% PCZ, provided that this formulation showed superior physicochemical properties, and the in vitro release studies showed complete drug release (100%) within 150 minutes. Subsequently, this nanoemulsion was incorporated with different types and percentages of gelling polymer to develop VMNGs, and among many formulations, the one containing 1.5% Carbopol 934 was selected.
The results showed that the PCZ-loaded VMNG formulation containing 1.5% Carbopol 934 exhibited 95.4% drug release in 150 minutes, acceptable pH (6.65), and enhanced mucoadhesion, indicating a rapid onset of action suitable for the acute management of vaginal candidiasis. This fast and complete release contrasts with the conventional intravaginal antifungal formulations, such as Clotrimazole vaginal tablets, which exhibit a slower and incomplete release ranging from 61% to 78% over 8 hours.
The study recommended that the system mentioned above has the potential to be adopted as a localized antifungal treatment, bypassing hepatic first-pass metabolism and improving patient compliance.
