Skin patches have their down side

From the Toronto Star:
Morag Dickie liked the convenience. She could just slap the nitroglycerin patch onto her body in the morning and not worry about popping pills.

"I could feel a consistent flow of energy," says Toronto resident Dickie, 55, a heart patient.

That's the idea behind a skin patch – an easy-to-use method with smooth, controlled drug release, not the peaks and valleys of ingested medicine. In the U.S. last month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first skin patch to treat Alzheimer's disease. In May, it gave the green light to a drug patch for Parkinson's disease. Last year, medicinal patches were approved Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and depression. ...more