"Nano patch" which removes needle pain from injection with nanotechnology

Injections injecting medicine by piercing and stinging a needle on a person's skin are something that adults do not want to like very much. Let's be a child or a babyGirl cryingIt will also cause you to cause, as long as you can avoid it if you can avoid it. But still it seems likely that it will be possible to effectively make vaccine injections important for health and disease prevention with simplicity not traditional.Nanopatch"is.

Mark Kendall: Demo: A needle-free vaccine patch that's safer and way cheaper | Video on TED.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_kendall_demo_a_needle_free_vaccine_patch_that_s_safer_and_way_cheaper.html


You can see the presentation by Mr. Mark · Kendall of the Bioengineering · Nanotechnology Research Institute of the University of Queensland, Australia that developed nanopatches from the following link.

Mark Kendall: Demo: A needle-free vaccine patch that's safer and way cheaper - YouTube


The history of injection, in 1853 the doctor of Scotland city EdinburghAlexander WoodIt starts from where the first patent was acquired by. The basic shape is not greatly different from the current syringe, and there will be a history of 160 years indeed.


One thing done with this injection is vaccination by administering a vaccine. Sneage is used in vaccine administration in most cases, because weakening the function of the pathogen causing the disease and putting it in the body and making antibodies to it. But painful injection is not a pleasant thing, but it is not a pleasant thing to do, but it is said that for people with "advanced phobia", which is said to account for 20% of the population, passing through pain and losing consciousness Even it can happen.


And for injection, the disease is spread by using a needle to turnSecondary pollutionIncluding the risk of. Although it should not exist in itself, actually there is data that 1.3 million people are killing themselves due to secondary infection in the WHO (World Health Organization) survey.

Mr. Kendall developed as a solution to such problems is a small "sandwiched" between the thumb and forefingerNanopatch(Nano patch) ".


The usual needle that shines in silver color, the gold part under it is a nanopatch. It is a nanopatch that looks like a small squirrel about 1 cm square, but in reality, about 4000 very small protrusions (needles) are formed on the surface that comes into contact with the skin. Every one of the needlesDeep reactive ion etchingIt is molded using the technology used for the production of semiconductors such as semiconductor and has the merit that low cost and mass production can be realized because the manufacturing technology has already been established.


In nanopatches, vaccine is administered by painting a dried vaccine on the part of this needle and pasting it on the skin. What we have on the left in the photograph below is an applicator to use to paste the nanopatches.


When the nanopatches were attached to the tip of the applicator and pressed against the part of the arm, the nano patch was affixed to the skin together with the sound "click". Because it is a very fine needle, there seems to be no pain at this time.


It is one of the advantages of nanopatching that it is very easy and yet it can be administered vaccine without pain, but the merit is not limited to that. It has the advantage of less dose of vaccine and dramatically reduces the labor and cost of transportation.


This picture is an enlarged display of the golden nano-patch needle entering the skin indicated by orange or purple. The tip of the needle has reached the inner part through the outermost epidermis, but in fact it is known that this part is the area where the vaccine works most effectively. Normal injection needle injection penetrates this part further and can not deliver efficient vaccine, but nanopatches will be able to deliver the vaccine to the best strike zone.


This is shown in the graph below. It shows the antibody response of the human body to the dose of the vaccine, which means that the higher the graph, the higher the effect. Here is the part indicated by the dotted line to pay attention to. This is a line called "Threshold" of the vaccine effect, and it is said that there is no effect when it is less than this. To cross this line, it is necessary to have a vaccine of 6000 nanograms in the case of needle injection indicated by red, whereas in the case of blue nanopatches only 6.5 nanogram doses are effective It is shown. This makes it possible to lower the cost that traditionally cost $ 10 (about 1050 yen) to only 10 cents (about 11 yen).


In addition, conventional vaccines had the drawback that if they did not perform cold transport called "cold chain", their work would be reduced or lost, but nanopatches can be transported in the dry state There is an advantage that refrigeration is unnecessary. As an example, in the desert area transportation with a solar panel and a refrigerator on the back of a camel is introduced, but in nanopatches you do not need to take such a method. In addition, even when it was kept at 23 degrees Celsius, it seems that it could be stored for more than one year without any performance deterioration.


In Papua New Guinea, which is one of the developing countries, there are only 800 refrigerators to refrigerate the vaccine, and aged ones like the photo are used. Also, Papua New Guinea causes cervical cancerHuman papilloma virusAlthough it is a country with a high incidence of incidence, its vaccine is very expensive, so its handling volume was very limited. Therefore, Dr. Kendall introduced an nano-patch that can solve the problem of temperature and cost, and conducted an attempt to verify its effect. The result seems to be announced soon.


Dr. Kendall said, "This is a very challenging attempt, but if you do not have any other way, you should do it. Currently, the fact that 17 million people are infected with infectious diseases as an" old story " I would like to share the vision that the future to be spoken will come with you.Introduce 160 years ago a nano-patch without using a big needle and not being tied to a cold chain without pain 160 years ago I am thinking that you would like people to know about this place in Edinburgh, "he concluded the presentation.


Attempts to patch vaccines have been done for a long time, but neither has been able to achieve a noticeable effect. This nano-patch has already been developed for about 5 years, but I would like to pay attention whether we can take advantage of the power of the latest technology to enter the practical stage.