HP Skin Patch May Replace Needles

Iddo Genuth writes "HP and Crospon have developed a skin patch employing microneedles that barely penetrate the skin. The microneedles can replace conventional injections and deliver drugs through the skin without causing any pain. The skin patch technology also enables delivery of several drugs by one patch and the control of dosage and of administration time for each drug. It has the potential to be safer and more efficient than injections."

Comments

Previously on Slashdot

[Dr. Eggman]

Last we heard this was in the prototype phase. Btw, the search function is terrible.

Re:Previously on Slashdot

[Smordnys s'regrepsA]

I'm glad someone else noticed. Does anyone know if there is anything new in this post, or are we just rehashing old news?


Oh, and next time just use Google (site:SlashDot.org "YourPhraseHere"), it is a thousand times easier.

Re:Niccotine patch did it already?

[Thanshin]

Those work through the skin. Transdermal patch

This ones enter through micro needles.

Re:Did someone say hypospray?

[selex]

Jet Injector. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_injector Already exist. From what I heard from military people who had it used on them it f**king hurts.

Now the question is HP? Really? The people who built my printer? And laptop? I guess that development of the inkjet has other applications.

Selex

Really?

Re:Now we need sensors in those patches

[Ihlosi]

If this technology triumphs, the next addition should be sensors that control the release of chemicals taking the current situation into consideration.

No company wants to open that bag of liability issues. If your device makes medical decisions (instead of leaving them to a physician), you make yourself a big fat blinking glowing target for all sorts of legal trouble. Current example: Infusion pumps. While studies show that feedback-controlled infusion pumps lead to better patient outcomes, no company wants to make them because they don't want to get slapped with a multi-million-dollar lawsuit for the one patient in a thousand who thinks he might have had a better outcome with a standard infusion pump.

Re:Consider the potential abuses

[ResidntGeek]

It could, certainly, but it wouldn't add anything new. The problems with heroin addiction and the defeat thereof are properties of the drug itself, and can't really be mitigated. Many drugs cause users to develop tolerance, but heroin is so much stronger that continually taking the same dose won't even bring you back to normal - you have to increase the dose just to get back to normal after cravings, never mind feeling the same effects for repeated highs. The withdrawal is severe and physically dangerous, and it can be near-impossible to go cold turkey (or anywhere close) and survive if you're in too deep. Continuous subcutaneous absorption wouldn't do anything a controlled methadone drip wouldn't do, as far as breaking addiction.

None of this is firsthand information, of course, so the usual warnings about salt and its grains apply.

Re:Bad headline

[PCM2]

Hypodermic needle. Hypo ("under") dermic ("the skin"). Pretty commonplace tool, actually. Cannulae, on the other hand, are used for IVs.

Re:In speculative fiction for a while

[Kimos]

The you're describing an anti-rape female condom, frequently called a Dentata.