Transdermal Microneedles—A Materials Perspective

R. Ali, P. Mehta, Ms Arshad, I. Kucuk, M. W. Chang, Z. Ahmad

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    60 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Transdermal drug delivery is an emerging field in the pharmaceutical remit compared with conventional methods (oral and parenteral). Microneedle (MN)-based devices have gained significant interest as a strategy to overcome the skin’s formidable barrier: the stratum corneum. This approach provides a less invasive, more efficient, patient friendly method of drug delivery with the ability to incorporate various therapeutic agents including macromolecules (proteins and peptides), anti-cancer agents and other hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds. This short review attempts to assess the various materials involved in the fabrication of MNs as well as incorporation of other excipients to improve drug delivery for novel medical devices. The focus will be on polymers, metals and other inorganic materials utilised for MN drug delivery, as well as their application, limitations and future work to be carried out.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number12
    JournalAAPS PharmSciTech
    Volume21
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 5 Dec 2019

    Keywords

    • engineering
    • materials
    • microneedles
    • polymer
    • transdermal drug delivery

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