The fear of injections will soon be a memory of the past. Merit of the “microneedle”, infinitesimal needles capable of penetrating the surface layers of the skin without reaching the deep dermis, and without therefore causing pain. Technology today is mainly used to carry out topical therapies in the dermatological field. But soon it could be ready to administer drugs and vaccines in the form of patches, also thanks to a new invention described in a study by Griffith University published in the magazine Small Methods.
The dimensions lower than the millimeter
In fact, of micro-aghi, we hear about at least twenty years. They are widely used in dermatology, mainly for therapies that aim to reduce the presence of wrinkles by inducing the production of collagen, through microscopic skin lesions carried out with equally microscopic needles.
While the use of micro -aghi for transdermal administration systems of drugs – that is, using them to inject the molecules desired in the body without the need for traditional injections – is still, mostly, in the experimental phase. Also because of the complexity, and of the costs, of the technologies available for the production of needles of the requested dimensions (lower than the millimeter in length).
Experimentation to reduce costs
“We wanted to make the production of micro-agi easier, efficient and optimized for the administration of drugs,” explains Yuen Yong, engineer of the University of Newcastle who collaborated in research. To do it, the Australian scientists have developed a new technique, defined as “pulsating in situ dried electro stretching” (or pides), which consists in using an electromagnetic field to control the behavior of a polymer inside a liquid, forming microscopic droplets of conical shape which, evaporated the solvent, become microscopic needles, perfect for injecting treatments. pharmacological.
Testing, the micro-aghi have shown that they can easily penetrate the pork epidermis and to pay controlledly the active ingredients that are encapsulated inside them. At the moment it is a technology still in the initial stages of development. But it is cheap and easily scalable for industrial applications. And it therefore has all the credentials to revolutionize the production of topical drugs and vaccines, offering an “need-free” alternative to those of needles and syringes, as far as possible, would like to do without it.
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