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Skin Patch May Replace Traditional Injections Skin Patch May Replace Traditional Injections
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - Einat Rotman
Home >> News >> Medicine
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HP and Crospon have developed a skin patch which uses microneedles that barely penetrate the skin. The microneedles can replace conventional injections and deliver drugs through the skin without causing any pain. The skin patch technology also enables delivery of several drugs by one patch and the control of dosage and of administration time for each drug. It has the potential to be safer and more efficient than injections.

 A close-up of the prototype skin patch technology reveals the intricate components involved in this industry-first drug delivery system (Credit: HP)
A close-up of the prototype skin patch technology
reveals the intricate components involved in this
industry-first drug delivery system (Credit: HP)
Transdermal patches (which rely on absorption through the skin) have not been a widely effective delivery mechanism for drugs, since the skin acts as a natural barrier. This may now change due to new drug delivery microneedle technology developed by HP. The new technology is similar to the technology employed in HP’s patented process for its inkjet cartridges.

HP and Crospon, a medical device developer, have recently entered a licensing agreement for their drug delivery platform, which enables painless, controlled release of one or more drugs in a single patch applied to the skin. The drug delivery skin patch may be available to consumers by year 2010.

The epidermis, which is the outer skin layer, prevents invasion of bacteria and viruses into the body. Conventional needles penetrate far beyond the epidermis, which is a fraction of a millimeter thick, into the nerve-packed dermis layer, causing us pain. Because the maximum penetration of the skin patch's microneedles is 0.5mm, they do not stimulate the pain receptors that are located about 0.75mm under the skin's surface. 

 A HP Labs researcher holds the prototype skin patch technology, demonstrating the size and scale of the prototype (Credit: HP)
A HP Labs researcher holds the prototype
skin patch technology, demonstrating the size
and scale of the prototype (Credit: HP)
One patch contains about 150 microneedles and enables the drug's dose and time of delivering to be controlled by a microchip. The patch also contains 400 cylindrical reservoirs that can be filled with the necessary drugs, and is therefore capable of carrying more several drugs at the same time. This product may be particularly helpful for patients who are on a multi-drug regimen and have trouble remembering when they should take each drug.

Intradermal delivery of medications, just below the surface of the skin, radically reduces discomfort compared to traditional hypodermic needles. The microneedles allow medication to quickly enter the bloodstream, resulting in the potential delivery of lower and more precise dosages and enabling precise control of dosage timing.

The microneedle skin patch can deliver drugs which are currently injected or taken daily. Until now, only chemicals which can be absorbed directly through the skin, like nicotine, tranquilizers and progesteron, could be delivered using a patch, whereas most drugs have bigger molecules and therefore required a needle to break the skin barrier. Since the HP-developed skin patch uses microneedles that penetrate the skin only slightly, it enables using the technique with a much wider variety of drugs and biopharmaceuticals. For instance, the patch could be used by diabetes patients for the delivery of both insulin and glucagon (which lowers the risk of insulin overdose), and may replace inhalers used by asthma patients.  

 New patch and a common hypodermic needle illustration (Credit: HP)
New patch and a common hypodermic
needle illustration (Credit: HP)
Alongside the microneedle patch's promise and advantages, a couple of issues remain to be clarified. The manufacturers must demonstrate that the patch's very gentle yet dense piercing of the skin doesn't enable bacteria and viruses to penetrate the skin and cause infections. Another aspect that should be taken into consideration is the cost efficiency of the new microneedles patch, as it may end up costing too much to deliver very cheap drugs. 

TFOT recently covered the development of a couple of other devices for needle-free drug administration. The University of California Santa Barbara's Pulsed Microjet System delivers protein drugs into the skin without pain or bruising, and the Queen's University Belfast jet injection is designated to be used in PDT treatment of skin cancer.

More information on the new skin patch technology can be found on the HP website.
You are invited to discuss this technology on the TFOT forums. 

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Comments & Replies (9)
Lower budget version?   (11/28/07 - 4:22 - by Paul)
Perhaps a version without a microchip could work for cheaper drugs -
ie. delivers the medication immediately?
Awesome.   (11/28/07 - 6:25 - by Joe)
Maybe they can develop these for use in making easy-to-apply
permanent/semipermanent tattoos. o_o
Nefarious   (11/28/07 - 7:57 - by Matt T.)
I am not sure the patch is such a good idea.

Spies and assassins could use it to kill easily and effectively. How
about filling it with bio-agents instead of drugs.
More dangerous? How?   (11/28/07 - 11:22 - by Ender)
How is this making it easier for criminals to kill people, as you
think it will?

Spies and assassins? So they\'d have to be close range rather than
shoot someone from a distance? This doesn\'t make it easier to kill
someone, it makes it a new technique but requires them to be in close
range. Unless you see them tossing microchips at people.

One concern I have is the depth of the microneedles. How can they be
sure it\'s not too deep? Not everyone\'s skin is the same thickness?
Great   (11/28/07 - 12:38 - by Justin)
I've been a diabetic for 24 years of my 26 on this earth. Averaging 4
injections per day, you do the math. I think this is awesome if used
in conjunction with a insulin pump and infusion set.
Impressive   (11/28/07 - 19:53 - by Brendan)
It would be interesting to see if the drugs can be delivered using
capilary action rather than requiring electronics that way reducing
the cost and making it possible for disposable mass production of
immediate application drugs
Complexity overkill   (11/29/07 - 12:23 - by WindShadow)
Of course many (most) of the benefitsd could be gained by making the
needles of a biodegradable material which could mix with the actual
drugs or antibiotics, controlling dosage by just using more needles.
Similar to disolving surgical stiches. Low complexity, low cost, and
unfortunately low profit.
SPIES AND NINJAS?   (11/30/07 - 4:48 - by DramaLlama)
SPIES AND NINJAS? That all you have to say about this? OH MY GOD.
TARD.
Remember the MD6580N DLP TV?   (11/30/07 - 7:31 - by HP Victim)
If this chip ends up like the TV I bought you can expect it to be made
one or two years then unceremoniously dumped, have it break down after
18 months and charge you $2000+ to fix it. Yeah I'm gonna buy HP!

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