Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, UC Santa Barbara and Zosano Pharma are hard at work,
Drying the tears of little children, de-freaking the phobics and the Adrian Monks of the world.
In the works, is a small, sometimes gel-dissolvable patch bristling with teeny-tiny needles.
The purpose: get drugs into the body that would ordinarily be administered by means originally designed as much for physical pain and psychological torture as they were for chemical-delivery.
-And always administered in the Ministry of Love’s Room 101.
In whatever form they take, either gelatinized cast media, or drug powder-coated solid material patches, the net effect on the patient is the same.
It’s like gluing a very mildly-abrasive square of sandpaper to your arm for a short while.
Oh, and no paint-shredding screaming tirades of, ‘WHYYYYYY DOC, WHYYYY!!!!! … MOOMMM!!! I WANT MY MOOMMMM!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH…”
“Er, Jim? -You’re Forty-Seven…”
[uncontrollable sobbing ensues…]
And while the original intent of the new delivery system may have been just to reduce pain and soothe neurotic patients, an interesting side-effect has come out in the trials.
Not only are the microneedle patches less scary, uncomfortable and distressing, but:
JUMP BONUS!:
***In some cases, the net effect of the drug/vaccination was actually BETTER with patch-injection than single-needle-into-muscle/tissue method!
So…: WIN-WIN!
(the gel ones also eliminate some biological waste in the form of “sharps”, +win again!)
Photo Credits: Microneedle Sheet Micrograph, by Zosano Pharma
Links:
Source: Nature-Dissolving Polymer Microneedle Patches…, Access, Journal of Pain-Effect of Microneedle Design…
via: Amber Dance-LaTimes, Neatorama
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