Microneedle Array With Distal Active Ingredient Localization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional microneedle arrays for drug delivery face challenges such as limited drug penetration due to small aperture size, inefficient drug loading, and waste disposal issues with hazardous active ingredients, particularly for larger molecules like biological entities.
Innovation Solution
The development of microneedle arrays with an active ingredient localized in the distal portion of each microneedle, using dissolvable polymers that degrade under physiological conditions, allowing for efficient delivery and minimizing waste by ensuring the active ingredient remains in the skin after the base layer is removed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional microneedle arrays are used for drug delivery, then drug penetration through skin is achieved, but active ingredient loading efficiency is limited and waste disposal issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The microneedle array is segmented into a base layer and multiple individual microneedles. The active ingredient is selectively placed only in the distal portions of the microneedles, not in the base layer. This segmentation allows the base layer to be removed and discarded without wasting active ingredient, while the microneedles with active ingredient remain in the skin for therapeutic effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The active ingredient is extracted from the base layer and concentrated only in the distal portions of the microneedles. This extraction ensures that when the base layer is removed from the skin, no active ingredient is lost with it, thereby eliminating waste disposal issues while maintaining effective drug delivery.
2Quantity of substance
If microneedle arrays are used to create apertures in skin, then larger drug molecules can be delivered, but aperture size is still limited by microneedle cross-sectional dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The microneedles are pre-formed with the active ingredient already incorporated into their distal portions before application. This preliminary action ensures that when the microneedles penetrate the skin, the active ingredient is immediately available for delivery through the created apertures, maximizing the efficiency of the limited aperture size.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If microneedles are made small to reduce pain, then penetration depth and drug delivery capacity are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The microneedles exhibit local quality by concentrating the active ingredient specifically in the distal portions while keeping the overall microneedle structure small. This allows the microneedles to be sufficiently small to minimize pain upon insertion, yet still deliver an effective quantity of active ingredient through the concentrated local formulation at the tip.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables higher active ingredient loadings and more efficient drug delivery, particularly for biological entities, while avoiding waste disposal issues and reducing pain compared to traditional methods.
Implementation Method 1
using dissolvable polymers that degrade under physiological conditions, allowing for efficient delivery and minimizing waste by ensuring the active ingredient remains in the skin after the base layer is removed
Data Source
AI summary
Microneedle arrays for introducing an active ingredient through a skin surface of a subject can include a base layer, a plurality of microneedles projecting from the base layer, and an active ingredient. Each of the microneedles comprises an elongate body having a proximal portion and a distal portion, in which the proximal portion is attached to the base layer. Each of the microneedles comprises at least one dissolvable polymer. The active ingredient is incorporated in the elongate body, and the active ingredient is present only in the distal portion and at least internally in the distal portion.