Microneedle Technologies for

Transdermal Delivery

Introduction

The outer layer of human skin (the stratum corneum) is just 0.02 mm thick, but presents a major impediment to the transdermal delivery of drugs and vaccines.

This barrier is the primary reason why drug delivery via the skin is currently limited to a small number of drugs such as nicotine for smoking cessation and testosterone for hormone replacement therapy.

Tyndall National Institute is a world leader in the development of microneedle technologies to overcome the stratum corneum barrier in a minimally invasive manner.  These sharp-tipped, micron-scale projections are generally around 0.5 mm in length, and are made using advanced microfabrication technologies.

Tyndall’s microneedles on the patches are loaded with SCIENION technology, by dosing 400 pL drops into each exact needle.

Loading of microneedles with SCIENION technology

Related publication

Dissolvable microneedle fabrication using piezoelectric dispensing technology