Formulation and efficacy studies of new topical anesthetic creams

Local anesthetics (lidocaine or tetracaine) spontaneously melted at 25degreesC when mixed with thymol and aqueous isopropyl alcohol solution (IPA) at proper ratios and formed novel two-phase melt systems (TMS). The TMS consisted of a homogeneous oil phase containing primarily a local anesthetic agent (lidocaine or tetracaine) and thymol, and a homogeneous aqueous phase containing primarily IPA and pH 9.2 buffer. The relationship between melting of the solid components and system composition was determined from the phase diagram obtained by a titration method. A select TMS of a local anesthetic agent (lidocaine or tetracaine) was directly emulsified to prepare an O/W cream and tested for the anesthetic efficacy on intact human skin. While both lidocaine (6%) and tetracaine (4%) creams were highly effective for dermal anesthesia with a similar onset time, the tetracame cream exhibited a significantly longer duration of action than the lidocaine cream. An accelerated stability study indicated that lidocaine was significantly more stable than tetracame in the creams.