Bandage-like patch dissolves to deliver medicine to skin
Water-soluble material helps send complete drug dose into the body
By Meghan Rosen
A few drops of water can make drug-delivering patches melt away from the skin.
The patches hold rows of tiny spikes, or microneedles, that researchers can load with medicine or vaccines. When pressed onto the skin, the spikes painlessly dig in and then dissolve to deliver their cargo (SN: 8/14/10, p. 9).
But when scientists peel the patches away, sometimes the spikes pull up too — like arm hair stuck to a Band-Aid. As much as 20 percent of each microneedle can fail to dissolve and cling to its patch. Since these remnants still hold drugs, patients may get an incomplete dose.