New Flexible Microneedles Devised by Researchers

Researchers from the Virginia Tech Wake Forest University have developed flexible microneedle patches, which painlessly deliver a variety of therapeutics directly through the skin.

These microneedle patches are composed of a collection of several hundred micron-sized needles, which pierce the skin and dissolve, discharging the drug  in a painless way.

The new patch can cut the drug delivery time, making it quicker and lower the wastage of medicine. These microneedles are expected to minimize side-effects and can be remarkable in cancer therapy and vaccinations.

This patch has been developed by an assistant professor Lissett Bickford, with the Virginia Tech - Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering along with Katherine A. Moga, a Chapel Hill graduate student, using lengthy fabrication procedures.

The report was published in an issue of the scientific journal on Advanced Materials on July 29, 2013.

Use of microneedle patch technology has been around for the past few years. The chemical composition of the hundreds of micro needles made it difficult for the patch to pierce the skin completely leading to wastage of drugs. Producing these patches in bulk was also difficult as the manufacturing process was complex.

A new flexible microneedle patch was developed by the researchers. They thought of a household bandage, which could outline the skin completely, fully piercing it and dissolving the drug inserted.

"The softer, more malleable and water-soluble material also allows for more precise control over the shape, size, and composition of the patch, with little to no waste," Bickford said

PRINT (Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates) technology is the technique on which the nanoparticle, micro-molding patch is based.

The PRINT technique is developed by the University of North Carolina researcher and Professor Joseph DeSimone.

Distinct from other methods used for producing these patches, the latest technology allows for faster and greater wide-scale manufacturing and reduced related costs.