Acne vulgaris is a common dermatological disorder with current treatments often limited to poor skin penetration, instability, irritation, and suboptimal therapeutic outcomes. There is a pressing need for advanced drug delivery systems that can overcome these challenges and enhance treatment efficacy. In this context, the current research was undertaken to develop and optimize a novel tazarotene-loaded emulgel formulation that merges the advantages of emulsions and gels to achieve controlled drug release, improved stability, and superior clinical performance for topical acne therapy. The formulation was prepared using the incorporation method and optimized through the Box-Behnken statistical design (BBD). Three independent variables, such as Carbopol 940 (X1), Span 80 (X2), and Tween 80 (X3), were assessed for their effects on drug release (Y1) and viscosity (Y2). The optimized formulation exhibited desirable characteristics, including pH: 6.6 ± 0.3, viscosity: 28,945 cPs, spreadability: 6.17 ± 0.02 cm2, extrudability: 18 ± 2.49 gm/cm2, and drug content: 85.46 ± 4.02%. In vitro drug release studies demonstrated 87.59 ± 2.6% drug release over 7 hours. A skin irritation test on mice confirmed its dermatological safety, with no signs of erythema or edema. Anti-acne efficacy was evaluated using a Propionibacterium acnes-induced murine model, where the optimized emulgel significantly reduced acne lesion size from 4.5 mm to 0 mm, compared to a marketed gel, which reduced lesions from 4.6 mm to 2.3 mm. These results highlight the tazarotene-loaded emulgel as a promising and safe topical treatment for acne, offering superior efficacy over marketed formulations.
Singh et al. (Sun,) studied this question.