Novel Approaches for Dermal and Transdermal Delivery of Herbal Drugs

In recent times, the utilization of herbal bioactives is increased worldwide because of their incredible therapeutic effects and negligible side effects as compared to the synthetic medicines. However, delivery of herbal drugs has need of modifications with the intention to accomplish sustained and controlled release. Previously herbal bioactives were not considered for development as novel formulations due to lack of scientific justification, processing, standardising, extracting and authentication difficulties. Also, many herbal drugs and herbal extracts regardless of their remarkable activity but show less in-vivo activity due to their poor lipophilicity or improper molecular size, resulting in less absorption and hence reduced bioavailability. Now with the innovation in the technology, novel drug delivery systems unlock the door in the direction of the development of herbal drug delivery systems with enhancing bioavailability, therapeutic effect and reduced toxicity. Many novel carriers such as nanoparticles, phytosomes, liposomes, transferosomes, etc. have been reported for successful modified delivery of various herbal drugs e.g. tacrolimus, quercetin, silybin, ginkgo, ginseng, Berberine etc. The aim of this review is to summarize various novel approaches, which have been developed for dermal and transdermal delivery of herbal drugs delivery to achieve better therapeutic response.