3D ‘micro-printed’ needles can deliver drugs

30th September 2015

Nat Bowers

0 0

Researchers at the University of Akron, USA, and the University of Texas, USA, have developed a new technique to produce a 3D ‘micro-printed’ array of needles which are capable of drug delivery. The pain-free drug delivery device would allow drugs to diffuse within the body as the biomaterial device degrades, offering treatments for a wide range of diseases, including melanoma cancers.

The researchers report producing a drug-loaded array for transdermal delivery of a chemotherapeutic drug, fabricated using microstereolithography. The arrays consisted of 25 poly(propylene fumarate) microneedles, each needle having a tip and base diameter of 20 and 200µm, respectively, and a height of 1mm. The results have been published today (30^th September) in the journal Biofabrication.

Jae-Won Choi, an author on the paper, has said that constructing the array was challenging: “3D printing this array was difficult, as the printable biomaterial contains some non-printable solvents and drugs.”

Dacarbazine, commonly used to treat skin cancer, was blended into the solution prior to crosslinking (a final part of the 3D printing process). The needles were then tested and shown to be able to withstand the stresses and strains they would likely be submitted to when inserted into the body.

Drug-release profiles remain a future challenge, concedes Choi: “We’d like to have a faster drug release, but this will require more material research. Once we improve this process we can look at developing more controlled drug release. I’d hope we’ll see this being used clinically in 5-10 years.”