Formulation development of pharmaceutical nanoemulgel for transdermal delivery of feboxostat: Physical characterization and in vivo evaluation

This study aimed to fabricate and characterize feboxostat (FXT) loaded nanoemulgel (NEG) for transdermal delivery. NEG was prepared by high sheared homogenization technique and characterized for thermodynamic stability, pH analysis, drug content, zeta analysis, viscosity, spreadability, FTIR, in-vitro drug release and ex-vivo permeation. In vivo anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in albino rats by inducing edema in hind paws using carrageenan. The formulations showed optimum thermodynamic stability, having no phase separation and color change. The pH was in the range of human skin range i.e. 5.5-6.5. The drug content of F3 and F4 formulations were 97.56 +/- 3.45 % and 83.88 +/- 3.12 % respectively which were in official limit of USP i.e. 90 +/- 10 %. No interaction was found between the FXT and various components after FTIR analysis. The viscosity of NEG was 4587 cp at 6 rpm and 2681 cp at 12 rpm. The droplet sizes of F1 (Blank NE), F2 (Blank NEG), F3 (Drug loaded NE) and F4 (Drug loaded NEG) were 148.6 nm, 153.4 nm, 402.1 nm and 498.3 nm respectively. The percent drug release of F3 was 82 +/- 0.97 %, while F4 released 78 +/- 0.91 % after 24 h. The drug permeation was 77 +/- 1.28 % and 74 +/- 1.10 % for F3 and F4 respectively. The optimized formulation significantly (p < 0.05; ANOVA) inhibited the paw edema in albino rats as compared to the control and standard group. It has been concluded that FXT loaded NEG can be a safe and effective alternative to the oral therapy of FXT.