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HP Skin Patch May Replace Needles

Posted by kdawson on from the you-may-feel-a-slight-pinch dept.

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."

2 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Now we need sensors in those patches by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, we need sensors in the patches and a better legal system that doesn't bind the minds and souls of men with ropes of fear.

  2. Types of injection by Wilson_6500 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So this is great for stuff that you can put in subcutaneously. What about intravenous injections? What about intramuscular? Intraperitoneal? What about substances that are made up of large (several micron) particles, such as the sufur colloid injections used by nuclear medicine studies? Those could get stuck in superfine-gauge needles.

    I think it's a little premature to say that this patch will replace conventional injections entirely. It might seem obvious that a patch couldn't really hope to deliver injections into the muscles without penetrating all the layers of skin, but I think it at least bears mentioning.