With extensive experience in transdermal drug delivery, we understand how each component plays a critical role in patch performance. Our expertise supports material selection that aligns with regulatory requirements and performance expectations and helps you build patches that deliver reliably and effectively.
As demand for innovative drug delivery systems continues to rise, transdermal patches are gaining traction across pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and wellness markets. These patches offer a non-invasive, controlled method for delivering active ingredients directly through the skin, making them ideal for both therapeutic and holistic applications.
At Solventum, we partner with leading developers worldwide to engineer smart adhesive solutions that meet the evolving needs of these industries. While we do not supply active ingredients, our adhesive technologies play a critical role in enabling effective delivery and performance.
Our adhesives are designed to:
Creating a transdermal patch involves many critical steps. Solventum helps you select the right adhesive materials to support patches that are suitable, stable and effective, ensuring consistent drug delivery and performance throughout the product lifecycle.
Our components are used in products marketed globally. We understand the complexity of manufacturing standards and the importance of regulatory approval in each region. To support your process, we provide:
With deep expertise in adhesive science and a global perspective on regulatory and manufacturing standards, Solventum is your trusted partner in advancing transdermal patch innovation. Together, we can help bring safe, effective and reliable solutions to patients and consumers around the world.
Watch as Solventum and AdCal Inc. discuss wellness trends in designing natural, wearable solutions. Tune in to learn more about manufacturing nutraceuticals and the industry.
Every layer of a transdermal patch plays a critical role in ensuring comfort, adhesion and effectiveness. At Solventum, we offer advanced materials tailored to each layer of your device, supporting innovation from concept to commercialization.
Read our comprehensive FAQ to quickly find clear answers to common transdermal components questions.
When a patch is used for cosmetic purposes or with dietary supplements such as vitamins, the need for pharmaceutical materials is not as important and a customer can look at our medical materials. However, if the active ingredient is a pharmaceutical ingredient that requires a prescription or has been prescribed in the past and now is available over-the –counter then it benefits from pharmaceutical materials. A good rule of thumb is, if your product is going to be submitted to the FDA as a drug or drug delivery system, then you should be looking at pharmaceutical quality components.
Solventum transdermal components have drug master files (DMFs) filed with the FDA. That along with additional quality controls that reference IPEC and cGMP guidelines, helps us maintain the quality needed for pharmaceutical use. However, we go a few steps further by preparing regulatory documentation and statements that address the needs of our transdermal pharmaceutical customers. These include standard requests for TSE/BSE, biocompatibility, etc. as well as additional statements related to extractables screening and elemental impurities.
When selecting a backing film there is a tradeoff between occlusivity (barrier properties) and conformability. Solventum provides both types of backing materials. For conformability stretchy materials like polyethylene are more comfortable. However, when you have a formulation that is lipophilic (oil based), there can be some uptake of the active ingredient into the backing if the backing is an olefin such as EVA or polyethylene. Instead of using these materials, Solventum offers laminates that have the same PE or EVA layer for comfort but a base PET layer that protects from this uptake issue. The occlusivity of the PET also helps to deliver the active ingredient through the skin more efficiently.
When choosing a membrane, it is important to match the needed rate of drug release with the properties of the membrane. Solventum has non-porous EVA membranes that work well with many lipophilic active ingredients. The percentage of vinyl acetate in the EVA resin as well at the thickness of the film, can influence the rate of delivery of the active ingredient.
When active and inactive ingredients are added to an adhesive to make a drug in adhesive (DIA) type patch, these added ingredients can affect the adhesive properties of the base adhesive. This can cause the patch to not stay adhered for as long as it would with the adhesive alone. If the adhesion is not sufficient to keep a patch in place for an extended time period (greater than one day), then an overlay can be a useful way to keep the patch in place so it can deliver the active ingredients over the longer needed time.
