Novel Herbal Topical Patch containing Curcumin and Arnica Montana for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) ranks fifth among all forms of disability affecting 10% of the world population. Current treatments available are associated with multiple side effects and do not slow down the progression of disease. Moreover no such effective treatment is available till date in various systems of medicine to treat osteoarthritis. Curcumin and Arnica have shown evident clinical advances in the treatment of osteoarthritis.The aim of the present study was to design, optimize and characterize novel herbal transdermal patches of curcumin and Arnica montana using factorial design.A multiple factorial design was employed to investigate the effect of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose and jojoba oil on elongation and drug release. Transdermal patches were evaluated by FTIR, DSC, FESEM, ex vivo drug permeation, anti oateoarthritic activity and analgesic activity.Independent variables exhibited significant effect on the physicochemical properties of the prepared formulations. The higher values of drug release and elongation were observed with the higher concentration of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and jojoba oil. Anti osteoarthritic activity was assessed by complete freund's adjuvant arthritis model and analgesic activity by eddy's hot plate method. Combination patch exhibited good anti oateoarthritic and analgesic activity as compare to individual drug patches.The design results revealed that the combination patch exhibited good physicochemical, anti osteoarthric and analgesic activity for the treatment of osteoarthritis. More plants and their combinations should be explored to get reliable, safe and effective formulations that can compete with synthetic drugs.