Atopic dermatitis, a chronic, relapsing skin inflammation disease, affects nearly 20% of children and 1% to 3% of adults. It presents as pruritus, inflammatory skin lesions and skin barrier defect. The pillar treatment remains topical therapy that has shown great adherence and incredible results in alleviating its symptoms. Topical corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitors have shown improvement in the symptoms of atopic dermatitis but are associated with certain side effects. Hence, there is a need to develop new therapies or novel drug delivery approaches that can overcome the limitations of the conventional formulation and increase the therapeutic efficacy.

The present review describes the new topical therapies, including phosphodiesterase inhibitors, Janus kinase inhibitors and nano-formulations such as nanoemulsion, polymeric and lipid nanoparticles, vesicular system, and micelles by discussing the published literature on the topical drug delivery approaches for the treatment of atopic dermatitis.

It found that the literature advocates the benefits of novel topical formulations in exhibiting targeted drug delivery, better penetration, enhanced therapeutic efficacy and overcoming systemic side effects.

Thus, these new therapies and novel drug delivery approaches are therapeutically more effective in increasing the efficacy of drugs and reducing the side effects compared with the conventional treatments for atopic dermatitis. There is an urgent need to modify and develop more formulations for dermal delivery.

Source: Ghosalkar S, Singh P, Ravikumar P. Emerging topical drug delivery approaches for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2022;21(2):536-49.