Scientists from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A * STAR) are developing (with satisfactory results) an innovative system for painlessly administering certain drugs through the skin that , at the moment, they still require the use of needles.
The device, which is inspired by techniques used in traditional Chinese medicine, is described in a paper published a few months ago by scientists on Science Advance: it consists of a vice with two magnets that pinch the patient’s skin: under the surface, due to the pressure, a series of micropores is formed through which drugs can penetrate more easily into the body.
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For diabetics. Who could benefit from this innovation? First of all, patients with diabetes who have to take insulin on a daily basis. With this system, in fact, they will no longer be forced to practice traditional injections (which in the long run are bothersome and in many cases painful); moreover, the first tests conducted on mice in the laboratory have shown how in this way the absorption of the drug occurs in a slower and more controlled way, thus minimizing the risk of dizziness due to too rapid administration.
“Patients who have to inject drugs, such as insulin on a daily basis, are constantly asking if there is another way to deliver their drugs that does not involve pain or skin penetration,” explained NTU’s David Laurence Becker.
“Our new findings are promising for them and we hope to refine this method so that one day it will be possible to deliver enough drugs through the skin through a patch and free them from daily injections.”
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