Blanching activities of betamethasone 17-valerate formulations: effect of the dosage form on topical drug availability

Abstract

The blanching activities of Betnovate© cream, lotion, ointment and scalp application (each containing 0.1 % betamethasone (as the 17-valerate)) were determined using healthy human subjects over a 32 h period in both the occludedand unoccluded modes. Considering that allfour formulation types contained the same label concentration of corticosteroid,it may bepresumed that theformulations would show similar topical drug availability: this was, however, not found to be the case. The scalp application demonstrated the highest topical availability in both the occluded and unoccluded modes. The lotion formulation showed the greatest increase in topical availability on occlusion and the ointment formulation was the least sensitive to the effects of occlusion. These differences, due solely to the effects of the vehicle, may have important clinical implications.