Elan’s Panoderm hydromorphone system

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Transdermal Drug Delivery

A vision for a first-of-a-kind product

Elan’s Panoderm system incorporating the newly developed Electro-Transport Drug Administration System (ETDAS) was the first wearable combination product to facilitate the controlled administration of drugs based on the principles of active iontophoresis.

Create a vision
Our challenge was to explore and create a vision for this new delivery platform based on a deep understanding of human factors. We co-ordinated an international multi-disciplinary project team including the pharma development lab, patch manufacturer and a series of specialist suppliers including the IC supplier.

From passive to active
At the time, passive patch systems - simple polymeric drug eluting patches – were an established technology but the Panoderm system, using iontophoresis, was still in its infancy. Iontophoresis employs a low-powered electrical stimulus to draw drugs from a cartridge and into the blood stream.
In this way, the Panoderm system avoids the ‘peak and valley’ blood levels inherent with injectables, assuring a more prolonged therapeutic benefit. Elan’s Panoderm hydromorphone system allows for the extended transdermal delivery of several cardiovascular and peptide-based drugs, narcotics, anticoagulants and a range of antiemetics for prevention of nausea and vomiting, two prevalent side effects of chemotherapy.

Leading industry
Our collaboration with Elan and its subsidiaries resulted in a strategically important research and manufacturing project that helped Elan establish the corporation as an industry leader in the drug development business with particular expertise in low cost patch manufacture.
The Panoderm project was successfully taken through human trials and FDA/CE premarket approval. Panoderm achieved consistent blood levels of therapeutic compounds which had the effect of decreasing drug use and lowering drug-related health care costs. In 2003, using Panoderm as its flagship product, 100% of the Elan’s Transdermal Technologies stock was successfully sold to Nitto Denko.