Expanding the arsenal against diabetes mellitus via transdermal application of drug-loaded nanoparticles and microneedles: Recent advances and future perspectives

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease marked by elevated blood glucose levels brought on by either the destruction of the beta cells or increased resistance to insulin. The conventional oral or subcutaneous deliveries of small and large-molecular drugs have demonstrated various challenges including stability in the GI tract, side effects, etc. Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) was found to be an efficient way to deliver therapeutics by overcoming the challenges associated with oral or subcutaneous drug delivery. The nanoparticulate platform including polymeric and lipidic nanoparticles (NPs), hybrid polymer lipid NPs, and diverse types of microneedles (MNDs) is capable of achieving efficient transdermal delivery of drugs by overcoming the diverse skin barriers. This review discusses diverse challenges associated with oral and subcutaneous delivery therapeutics to treat DM. The importance of TDD over the oral and subcutaneous route is briefed with challenges. The range of nanoparticulate systems including MNDs employed in TDD to achieve better therapeutic performance, reduce side effects, and improve patient compliance in treating DM are explained. Further, NPs-based TDD in clinical trials and challenges of nanoparticulate-based drug delivery are discussed. In a nutshell, cutting-edge technology-based TDD of therapeutics can be an effective way to treat DM.