Formulation and Evaluation of Nanoemulsion for Topical Application.

The aim of present research is to design and develop nanoemulsion of Econazole nitrate as effective treatment for tinea versicolor fungal disease. Econazole nitrate is an imidazole antifungal agent with broad spectrum activity. It belongs to BCS class II i.e. low soluble and highly permeable drug. Due to its poor solubility, it is incompletely absorbed after oral dosing and bioavailability varies among individuals. The drug efficacy of topical formulation can be limited by instability due to its poor solubility in the vehicle and low permeability. Therefore, to overcome these problems nanoemulsions have been designed. Topical nanoemulsion containing 1 % Econazole nitrate with different oils (oleic acid), surfactant (tween 20), co-surfactant (PEG 200, PEG 400) and distilled water. Various oil-in-water nanoemulsions are prepared by the spontaneous emulsification method. The nanoemulsion formulations that passed thermodynamic stability tests were characterized for appearance, pH, FTIR, viscosity, drug content, % drug entrapment efficiency and in-vitro drug release study of Econazole nitrate determined by Franz diffusion cell and stability study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]