Development and evaluation of a tampering resistant transdermal fentanyl patch.

With the increasing number of misuse and abuse of opioids, the resistance to tampering becomes an important attribute for transdermal opioid patches. In this study, drug-containing geopolymer granules were integrated into an adhesive matrix to improve the resistance of fast drug release against some common abuse techniques. Bench testing showed that fentanyl loaded geopolymer granules had better resistance to tampering compared to a commercial fentanyl patch. Moreover, in a pilot in vivo study on a few rats, the granules showed potential to give similar drug plasma concentrations as the commercial fentanyl patch. After integrating geopolymer granules into an adhesive matrix, the new patch showed a better resistance against the investigated tampering tests compared with the commercially available patch. In this study, we showed that incorporating drug loaded geopolymer granules into a patch adhesive has potential to improve the resistance of the fentanyl patch against tampering without compromising the drug release.