Recent Advances in Combating Acne with Novel Drug Delivery Systems: A Review

Acne vulgaris is an inflammatory disorder of the skin that occurs when hair follicles get clogged with sebum and dead skin cells resulting in pustules, papules, or nodules. This condition affects a large number of people throughout the world. Over time, various conventional therapies like topical, systemic and hormonal treatments have been prescribed by doctors to patients for managing acne. Amongst these, topical therapy is the first-line therapy dominated by retinoid and antibiotic drugs. However, conventional topical treatments have many drawbacks concerning physicochemical instability, poor ability to penetrate the skin, and wide-ranging side effects. Novel drug delivery systems are the formulations that were first devised to overcome the issues faced by traditional methods. Researchers have developed novel therapies for topical use, such as niosomes, transfersomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, microsponges, microemulsion, microspheres, nanocochleates, and liposomes, which can be used to target acne. These nanoparticulate systems aim to overcome the disadvantages of conventional treatment and provide higher safety and efficacy, along with an increase in the stability of the formulation. Many comparative studies have been conducted between the novel and conventional methods, which give us a better understanding of the safety and efficacy of drugs present in the formulation and prove that novel drug delivery systems are more favorable than their conventional counterparts. This review article provides a brief insight into the conventional methods, discusses in depth the earlier mentioned novel therapies that can be used successfully in treating acne, and provides patent information on the drug delivery systems.