Tazarotene (TZR) is the first topical receptor-selective retinoid prodrug derived from vitamin A used for management of plaque psoriasis and efficacious in dealing of acne vulgaris, and photo aging. As per US food and drug administration (FDA), 0.1% strength of TZR is permitted for the treatment of acne. This article draws attention to various advanced and conventional analytical methods. The hyphenated and conventional chromatographic techniques such as LC-MS/MS and HPTLC, HPLC respectively. Moreover, spectrophotometric methods like UV/visible spectroscopy also used to quantify TZR as active pharmaceutical ingredient and its formulations, especially in topical preparations. Moreover, the TZR is required alternative methods for routine quality control and to estimate TZR in pharmaceutical dosage form especially in pharmacokinetic studies of topical preparation. This write up focus on critical review of characteristics, uses and the information about the physicochemical, pharmacokinetics properties, mechanisms of action and more emphasis on different analytical methods for estimation of TZR in pharmaceutical formulations.
Keywords: Analytical methods; drug delivery; pharmacokinetics; tazarotene.