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Vaccine-delivery patch uses microneedles to do its dirty work, looks good in testing
This dissolving microneedle patch has been in development for well over a year now, but Mark Prausnitz -- a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering -- along with a number of other GT and Emory University colleagues, have just now wrapped up a lab trial that brings it that much closer to market. As the story goes, this vaccine-delivery patch, which is based on hundreds of microscopic needles that dissolve into the skin, was recently seen as reliable in a round of mice tests, and the powers that be have also concluded that these patches would cost "cost about the same as conventional needle-and-syringe techniques, and may lower the overall cost of immunization programs by reducing personnel costs and waste disposal requirements." Oh, and did we mention that you could apply 'em on your own with little to no pain? FDA approval, we're waitin' on ya.
