Transdermal drug delivery systems for the effective management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: A review

Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by either insufficient insulin production or the inability to take it up for the glycemic regulation in the human body. According to WHO reports, T2DM will be the seventh-largest syndrome resulting in mortality by 2030. To tackle this chronic metabolic disorder, the person with diabetes population depends on subcutaneous administration (Sub-Q) of insulin and certain oral hypoglycemic drugs. However, these current invasive practices suffered from painful injections, needle phobia, multiple doses, risk of infection and poor-patient compliance. Hence, the search for a non-invasive and patient-friendly insulin administration system was high in the past decades leading to the development of Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems (TDDS). These can offer rapid and sustained release of therapeutic compounds at controlled rates with no pain during the administration. In recent years, the usage of such TDDS has been increasing at an exponential rate in Type 2 diabetes management. In the present review, the scholarly works on the different modes of TDDS were comprehensively reported chronlogically to appreciate their developments. Conclusively, this review critically identified prevailing research gaps in the current TDDS research and presented potential research hotspots for the prospect development in T2DM management.