title: Engineering Microneedle Patches for Vaccination and Drug Delivery to Skin.
abstract: Microneedle patches (MNPs) contain arrays of solid needles measuring hundreds of microns in length that deliver drugs and vaccines into skin in a painless, easy-to-use manner. Optimal MNP design balances multiple interdependent parameters that determine mechanical strength, skin-insertion reliability, drug delivery efficiency, painlessness, manufacturability, and other features of MNPs that affect their performance. MNPs can be made by adapting various microfabrication technologies for delivery of small-molecule drugs, biologics, and vaccines targeted to the skin, which can have pharmacokinetic and immunologic advantages. A small number of human clinical trials, as well as a large and growing market for MNP products for cosmetics, indicate that MNPs can be used safely, efficaciously, and with strong patient acceptance. More advanced clinical trials and commercial-scale manufacturing will facilitate development of MNPs to realize their potential to dramatically increase patient access to otherwise-injectable drugs and to improve drug performance via skin delivery.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0100; email: prausnitz@gatech.edu.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Prausnitz
mesh_terms: D000279:Administration, Cutaneous; D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism; D057968:Transdermal Patch; D014611:Vaccination / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014612:Vaccines
keywords: microarray patch; microfabricated microdevice; microneedle patch; pharmaceutical product commercialization; skin vaccination; transdermal drug delivery