Manufacture and applicator technologies for commercialisation of polymeric microneedle arrays

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We have developed a novel type of transdermal patch with tiny needles on its surface that painlessly and without causing bleeding by-pass the skin's stratum corneum barrier. These needles either dissolve quickly, leaving tiny holes in the skin, which will let proteins and peptides enter the body, or swell, turning into a jelly-like material that keeps the holes open and allows continuous delivery. Our technology is unique and could potentially revolutionise delivery of medicines. Interestingly, we have also found that our swellable microneedles can extract fluid from the skin. This permits us to monitor the levels of drugs in a person's blood without actually taking blood samples, meaning that adverse events and complications arising from blood sampling could be prevented, to the benefit of patients Worldwide. In this project, we will focus on moving our microneedle production from laboratory scale to industrial scale and design and validation of a low-cost user friendly applicator.