Depot-Forming Dissolving Microarray Patches for the Non-invasive Delivery of a Model Hydrophobic Drug

Background: Prolonged release dosage forms are becoming increasingly attractive to scientists due to their ability to provide continuous release of medications following their administration. This increases patients' compliance to their treatment regimens and thus improve their quality of life. However, to achieve prolonged release over more than 24 hours, injections or implants are required. Those techniques are invasive and difficult to terminate upon the development of toxic or adverse events. Therefore, in this project, microarray patches (MAPs) containing a model hydrophobic drug; atorvastatin (ATR), are being developed to deposit a therapeutic dose intradermally to provide a sustained release over a prolonged period.