Skin Patches Increasingly Replace Pills

Is Safety Compromised for Convenience?

Over the past few decades, the FDA has approved an alternative to the traditional method of daily pill-popping. Medications can now be taken through relatively effortless skin patches, a quick and easy way release medication into the bloodstream.

In May, the FDA announced the approval of Neupro, the first skin patch designed to treat symptoms of early Parkinson's disease. Last February, there was the approval of Emsam, the first skin patch used to treat depression.

A benefit of patches is that they offer increased convenience to administer drugs which would otherwise require frequent dosing. In addition there is improved patient compliance and comfort because of the non-invasive, painless and simple application. Common side effects are possibility of local irritation, itching or swelling at the application site.

There also has been concern about this method of introducing drugs into the body. In 2005 the FDA began investigating reports of death and other serious side effects from overdoses of fentanyl in patients using skin patches containing this drug for pain control. The FDA also approved updated labeling more than once for the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch. Last year, the FDA updated labeling information on Ortho Evra to warn patients of the risk of blood clots as a result of using the medication.

In 2005, healthcare providers and patients were warned that this product exposes women to higher levels of estrogen than most birth control pills. The change specifically states that women who use Ortho Evra are exposed to about 60 percent more total estrogen in their blood than if they were taking a typical birth control pill.

Transdermal, or skin patches were developed in the 1970s, and the first one was approved by the FDA in 1979 for the treatment of motion sickness. In the mid-1980s, pharmaceutical companies started the development of a nicotine patch to help smokers quit smoking, and by 1992 the FDA had approved four nicotine patches.

They now are used for many reasons, including birth control, hormone replacement, insulin, pain relief, depression and most recently Parkinson's Disease.