Controlled drug delivery for alopecia: A review

Abstract

Alopecia or hair loss is a benign treatable disorder which, over time, becomes chronic, affecting a significant fraction of the population that affects the patient's self-esteem and quality of life. The existing treatment regimen for alopecia is inadequate for drug delivery directly to hair follicles to result in continuous hair growth. The challenges are due to multiple-dose regimes and patient non-adherence, where it requires motivated clinical attention. Developing a prolonged drug delivery system by exploration of specific pathways to advance the delivery system into nanomedicine would be beneficial for clinical advancement. In this review, factors affecting the progress of the current therapeutic regimen towards controlled release nanomedicine (CRNM's) are analysed for existing clinical unmet needs, current treatment strategy, and research efforts taken in this direction. Correspondingly, changes in anatomy and pathophysiology of hair growth being analyzed in detail to focus the exact scenario of hair growth cycle and supplementation of medication. Besides, the current treatment regimen with various classes of drugs, their different pathways, and dosing limitations are analyzed. Possibilities of research effort for prolonged drug delivery are discussed in detail, including marketed products, clinical trials as well as various patents filed in the direction. Repurposing of multiple therapeutics using the nanotechnology platform, subsequently, results in a strategy to develop nanomedicine to treat alopecia, which could develop into several technologies (CRNM's), fore coming years from now.

Keywords: Alopecia; Controlled drug delivery system (CDDS); Drug delivery; Nanomedicine; Nanoparticles.