Pharmacokinetics of iontophoretic sumatriptan administration

1. An iontophoretic patch designed to iontophoretically deliver sumatriptan using a current of about 4 mA for a high current treatment period of about one hour and a current of about 2.0 mA for a subsequent low current treatment period of about three hours.

2. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said iontophoretic patch is integrated.

3. The patch of claim 2 , wherein said patch employs a current density of at least about 0.10 mA/cm 2 or higher for at least a portion of said high current density treatment period.

4. The patch of claim 3 , wherein the current density of said high current density period is between about 0.10 mA/cm 2 and 0.5 mA/cm 2 .

5. The patch of claim 3 , wherein said patch has an iontophoretically active surface area of about 10 cm 2 or greater.

6. The patch of claim 5 , wherein said surface area is about 30 cm 2 .

7. The patch of claim 1 , wherein the amount of said sumatriptan delivered is about 10 mg.

8. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said patch comprises a cathode reservoir and an anode reservoir, and wherein said cathode reservoir comprises 2% hydroxypropyl cellulose and sodium chloride.

9. The patch of claim 8 , wherein said cathode reservoir comprises 2% of hydroxypropyl cellulose in an amount of about 3.0 g.

10. The patch of claim 9 , wherein said anode reservoir comprises sumatriptan or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof present in a gel solution.

11. The patch of claim 10 , wherein said gel solution comprises 4% sumatriptan succinate.

12. The patch of claim 11 , wherein said gel solution further comprises 10% polyamine.

13. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in an AUC 0-inf within a 95% confidence interval between about 67 and about 158 hr*ng/mL.

14. The patch of claim 13 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in an AUC 0-inf within a 95% confidence interval between about 99 and about 128 hr*ng/mL.

15. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in an AUC 0-inf between about 67 and about 158 hr*ng/mL.

16. The patch of claim 15 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in an AUC 0-inf between about 99 and about 128 hr*ng/mL.

17. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in a C max within a 95% confidence interval of between about 14 and about 38 ng/mL.

18. The patch of claim 17 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in a C max within a 95% confidence interval between about 20 and about 28 ng/mL.

19. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in a C max of about 23-25 ng/mL is achieved and plasma concentrations are sustained for at least three hours.

20. The patch of claim 1 , wherein said delivery of sumatriptan results in an AUC 0-inf between about 99 and 128 hr*ng/mL and a C max between about 20 to about 28 ng/mL.

21. The patch of claim 1 , wherein sumatriptan is sumatriptan succinate.