High Value Manufacturing – Bártolo et al. (Eds)
© 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-00137-4
Levodopa controlled release from alginate membranes
M.R. Franco, S. Biscaia, T. Viana & P. Bártolo
Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal
ABSTRACT: L-Dopa (LD), the hydroxyphenylalanine levogyre enantiomer, is still reported as the gold stan-
dard drug when we consider Parkinson Disease (PD) therapeutics. However, this molecule undergoes a massive
methabolisation in the Gastro-Intestinal-Tract (GIT) by the Aromatic Aminoacid Descarboxylase (AADC)
enzyme. In this study, we aimed to develop a transdermic and controlled delivery of the drug in order to
provide a higher bioavailability