|
Dissolving microneedles are referred to micro-scale needles that are capable of delivering pharmaceutical compounds, proteins and other large biomolecules into the skin in a minimally invasive manner. These microneedles depending on their matrix backbone structure may take from seconds to hours to dissolve, providing fast or sustained release functionalities. Based on recent researches, achievement of a highly efficient delivery has become possible via dissolving microneedles and it is expected that microneedles would replace the widely used hypodermic needles in the near future. Also dissolving microneedles have various potentials, the activity of encapsulated compounds can be significantly reduced during fabrication process. Therefore, we have evaluated and optimized dissolving microneedle fabrication factors by which activity of encapsulated compounds including lysozyme, exendin-4, etc. can be highly maintained throughout the fabrication process. We have also developed dissolving microneedles capable of delivering valproic acid which showed a higher efficiency compared with topical application. Overall, our focus is on developing new methods to overcome the limitations of traditional microneedle systems through novel technologies.
|