Taking The "Ouch" Out Of Needles: Arrays Of "Microneedles" Offer New Technique For Dru...( e for one-time injections. However Pr...)

"This system could provide constant communication between the drug reservoir and the inside of the body," he explained. "Using a microprocessor to control a pump would allow the device to be programmed to deliver a drug at variable rates. The pump could also be controlled by the patient or a clinician."

If microneedle arrays were also used to withdraw bodily fluid for analysis, the microprocessor-based equipment could automatically administer drugs based on the body's need. Such a feedback system would be useful in regulating the blood sugar levels of persons suffering from diabetes, Prausnitz noted.

Using reactive ion etching microfabrication techniques originally developed for integrated circuits, the researchers have so far built solid silicon microneedle arrays 10 millimeters square. The existing needles are 150 microns long and leave holes about one micron in diameter when removed from the skin.

Prausnitz and Allen expect further development will reduce the length and diameter of the microneedles, make them hollow to increase the rate of drug delivery, and permit mass fabrication of arrays at least a centimeter square. If the diameter of the microneedles can be reduced, the holes they produce could be small enough to exclude bacteria, eliminating a potential source of infection.

Prausnitz expects that with high-volume production, the microneedle arrays would be competitive in cost with existing disposable drug delivery techniques.

"I do believe that microneedle technology offers great potential for delivering drugs through the skin, avoiding the barrier presented by the outer stratum corneum," said Dr. John C. Ansel, professor in the Department of Dermatology at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of Dermatology Se
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Contact: John Toon
john.toon@edi.gatech.edu
404-894-6986
Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
22-Jun-1998