Preactivated thiomers for vaginal drug delivery vehicles.

It was the purpose of this study to design and evaluate a chitosan derivative as mucoadhesive excipient for vaginal drug delivery systems. The chemical modification of chitosan was achieved by conjugation of thioglycolic acid (TGA) resulting in 1594 μmol thiol groups per gram of polymer followed by the linkage of mercaptonicotinic acid (MNA) to the immobilized thiol groups via disulfide bonding leading to 702 μmol ligand per gram of preactivated polymer. The mucoadhesive properties of these polymers within newly designed vaginal formulations (Chitosan-TGA and Chitosan-TGA-MNA) and commercially available vaginal formulations (Candibene®, Daktarin®, Dalacin®, GynoPevaryl®) were tested over a time period of 24 h via a mucoadhesion test system simulating vaginal conditions, tensile studies and mucus polymer interaction studies via viscosity measurements.