Product Design: a Transdermal Patch Containing a Traditional Chinese Medicinal Tincture

The traditional Chinese medicinal tincture is inconvenient to use and has strong herbal smells. It is highly desirable to convert such a tincture product into a transdermal patch. This study aims to design such a transdermal patch using an integrative approach. The tasks of market study, product design, prototyping, and process design were considered. Specifically, customers’ needs were collected from market study to identify the quality factors of the new product, which were, in turn, translated into the basic product configuration and technical specifications. Compatibility tests and diffusion experiments were carried out for material screening and performance testing. The procedure for fabricating the transdermal patch was also developed. Finally, a manufacturing process was proposed based on the laboratory-scale fabrication procedure.