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HP's Inkjet Technology Used to Administer Drugs

Posted by samzenpus on from the slap-on-a-stim-patch dept.

jedrick conner writes "Hewlett-Packard's microneedle technology, used in its inkjet cartridges, could soon be used in transdermal patches to deliver a time-controlled release of drugs to patients. Still at the prototype stage, the patch will likely be 25 mm square in size and 3 mm thick. It will incorporate an array of microneedles that are between 75 and 100 microns, which will penetrate the top dry layer of the skin, also known as the stratum corneum. Above the microneedles is an array of wells, [and] those wells can hold one or more drugs, the device has "an active mechanism to push the drug through the needle"."

15 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Can't wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can't wait till we see the black-market "refill kits" for these.

    It's... getting... sooohoho... coooold.

  2. Toner Refills by sweatyboatman · · Score: 5, Funny

    The printer comes free with your doctor's prescription. But it only comes with enough ink for one patch and refills are $1000.

    --
    It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
    1. Re:Toner Refills by kbob88 · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's OK. There's a guy down the street who refills the patches for cheap, using no-name brands from China. What could go wrong? A little lead paint mixed in with the drug won't hurt will it? It's only my health, right?

  3. Damn! Out of Yellow! by kbob88 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was doing fine until my anti-psychotic medicine ran out of yellow!

    1. Re:Damn! Out of Yellow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was doing fine until my anti-psychotic medicine ran out of yellow!


      You're lucky. My anti-depressant patch is out of everything except blue.
  4. Drugs will be cheaper than ink... by topham · · Score: 3, Funny

    The drugs will be cheaper than ink, therefor there isn't enough of a market in it for HP.

  5. Obligatory ST:TOS reference by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn it Jim! I'm a doctor, not a printer!

  6. Yet More SPAM by Crypto+Gnome · · Score: 2, Funny
    You heard it first folks - soon you will be bombarded with SPAM for

    CH3@P R3F!LLS for your TR@NSD3RM@L P@TCH3S


    Yet when you buy the product
    • they leak
    • they clog
    • the "fluid" in the 3rd-party refills simply don't produce the same results as quality/original manufacturer refills
    --
    Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
  7. It's just like what we have now by User+956 · · Score: 2, Funny

    and refills are $1000.

    so it's very similar to a regular inkjet printer then, isn't it?

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
    1. Re:It's just like what we have now by davester666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      and refills are $1000.
      so it's very similar to a regular inkjet printer then, isn't it?
      Only these refills are a lot cheaper than regular inkjet refills.
      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  8. Re:Prior art by Ossifer · · Score: 2, Funny

    I assume you mean to rotate around the axis on the astral plane...

  9. Blue screen by flyingfsck · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmm, this puts the Blue Screen of Death in a whole new light.

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  10. Transdermal drugs... by JRHelgeson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think my wife is on Microsoft Birth Control, because every week she has to apply a new patch.

    --
    Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
  11. Sweet by Legion303 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm betting the drugs cost way less than the ink. Any takers?

  12. Ouch! by akkarin · · Score: 2, Funny

    ERROR!
    Please correct
    skin jam, then
    press enter.

    --
    This sig left intentionally blank.