1. Microneedles Rachel Le 10/5/11

2. What is a microneedle? Small rectangle of 50 tiny needles 620 microns in length and thinner than a human hair tiny, and painless epidermal punctures Trans-dermal drug delivery

3. How it works  Penetrate the stratum corneum and epidermis layers of the skin BUT not into the dermis.  Then a patch will be placed over where the microneedle was punctured

4. Why use this product? Avoids painful needles Hard-to-swallow or stomach-irritating pills

5. Trial #1 Research assistant applied 4 arrays of microneedles to the upper-arm of six healthy volunteers for a few seconds. Removed the microneedle Fastedened a naltrexone trans-dermal patch over the same area with small bandages

6. R ESULT FROM T RIAL 1 Therapeutic blood levels were achieved with 12.6 mg of naltrexone per day Volunteers blood naltrexone concentrations began to rise within minutes of the patch application, stabled at an avg. of about 2.5 ng/mL within hours + remained constant for 2 days After 72 hours they had fallen but still in the range of considered therapeutic.

7. Advantages Opens up noninjection delivery for other therapeutic agents including proteins, DNA, and vaccines Increases patients’ willingness to receive some important medical interventions including vaccines. Smaller, cheaper, pain-free and more convienient Less side-effects

8. Disadvantages Local inflammation may result if the amount of drug is high under the skin Skin irritation may result because of allergy or sensitive skin The needles are very small and much thinner than the diameter of hair, so the microneedle tips can be broken off and left under the skin

9. Future Hopefully with more research and trials, we will be able to study/ make deliveries of other therapeutics, such as lidocaine, insulin and flu vaccines happen.

10. Resources  http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT6256533&id=RlcI AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Microneedle+Arrays&printsec=abstract#v=onep age&q=Microneedle%20Arrays&f=false http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT6256533&id=RlcI AAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=Microneedle+Arrays&printsec=abstract#v=onep age&q=Microneedle%20Arrays&f=false  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080204172210.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080204172210.htm  http://jcp.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/12/08/009127001037885 9.full.pdf http://jcp.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/12/08/009127001037885 9.full.pdf  http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNvol22N5/Naltrexone.html http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNvol22N5/Naltrexone.html  http://www.nibib.nih.gov/HealthEdu/Discovery/PainlessDrugDelivery http://www.nibib.nih.gov/HealthEdu/Discovery/PainlessDrugDelivery  http://www.pharmainfo.net/pharma-student-magazine/microneedle-drug- delivery-system-new-trend-drug-delivery http://www.pharmainfo.net/pharma-student-magazine/microneedle-drug- delivery-system-new-trend-drug-delivery

11.  QUESTIONS?