Novel Vaginal Drug Delivery Systems: A Review

The vagina, in addition to being a genital organ with functions related to conception, serves as a potential route for drug administration. Mainly used for local action in the cervico-vaginal region, it has the potential of delivering drugs for systemic effects and uterine targeting. Within recent years the level of interest in both local and systemic vaginal drug delivery systems has increased considerably. The vagina offers numerous advantages as a site for drug delivery, such as convenient access, prolonged retention of formulations, a great permeation area, high vascularization, relatively low enzymatic activity, and the avoidance of first-pass metabolism. Currently available vaginal dosage forms have several limitations, such as leakage and messiness necessitating the need to develop novel drug delivery systems. The purpose of writing this review was to compile the recent literature on novel vaginal drug delivery systems.