14 DAY TRIAL // A new paper in the journal Advanced Materials details the development of a microneedle patch that delivers drugs through the skin.
The patch was created by researcher Lissett Bickford, now working with the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.
Unlike other patches that perform the same task and that have been created in previous years, this one is fairly flexible. This means that it is more effective in terms of adhering to the skin and piercing it.
Hence the fact that it both speeds up drug delivery and significantly cuts waste.
“Bickford, with her research team, including Chapel Hill graduate student Katherine A. Moga, were able to develop a new flexible microneedle patch that forms to the skin directly – think a regular household bandage – and then fully pierces the skin and dissolves.”
“Bickford said 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,” Science News explains.
According to Lissett Bickford, the patch might also help minimize side effects that sometimes occur when patients are administered various drugs.