Medical Device Link.

NEWS

SkinMedica Inc. (Carlsbad, CA) is offering its NeoBenz Micro acne cream medication in single-use packaging with the support of two technologies from Cardinal Health Topical Technologies Inc. (Somerset, NJ). The specialty pharmaceutical firm adopted Cardinal Health’s DelPouch for delivery of the medication that Cardinal has formulated with its patented Microsponge Delivery Technology (MDT).

Offered in two prescription strengths, NeoBenz Micro SD is the first dermatology prescription product packaged in the DelPouch applicator and is the only benzoyl peroxide Rx treatment featuring the Microsponge technology. NeoBenz Micro in tube packaging has become the most prescribed benzoyl peroxide cream since its January 2006 launch, SkinMedica said.

“Microsponge delivery technology is the only porous-particle technology that has been scrutinized and approved for use in other topical medications by FDA,” says Subhash Saxena, senior vice president, research and development, topical technologies, Cardinal Health.

“In packaging NeoBenz Micro SD in the DelPouch, we are providing a unit-dose delivery system that eliminates the need for patients to touch the drug or their skin. The patient dispenses a finite half-gram dose, so the amount of medication dispensed is controlled,” Saxena adds.

In Microsponge delivery, a drug is incorporated into microscopic particles made of a synthetic polymer using a patented process. The sponges act as reservoirs and slowly deliver the drug while staying on top of the skin where they can be washed off.

“The slow release minimizes irritation from the active ingredient,” says Saxena.

Cardinal Health also holds the patents for the NeoBenz Micro and NeoBenz Micro SD formulations. The benzoyl peroxide drug is infused into the Microsponge particles that are then incorporated into a cream, says Saxena.

Cardinal Health uses a custom machine to make the DelPouch, which was first used commercially for a cosmetic product. The DelPouch packaging NeoBenz Micro SD is a patented 1-in.-sq laminated foil pouch with a sponge applicator.

MDT is used in OrthoNeutrogena’s Retin-A Micro acne medication and in Carac cream for treating actinic keratosis from Dermik Laboratories, a division of Sanofi-Aventis. SkinMedica uses Cardinal’s particulate delivery system in its Epiquin Micro skin-lightening product. Several cosmetic firms employ the Microsponge technology in commercial products.