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Thursday, April 15, 2004A diabetes “patch” that administers insulin through a plaster stuck to a person’s skin could end the need for the daily regime of injections endured by diabetics. .... The patch — which looks like a cross between a credit card and a first-aid plaster — is worn on the skin and lets patients carry and receive a three-day supply of insulin anywhere on their body. The BBC has a nice picture of the prototype. Compared to current insulin pumps, it looks like a vast improvement. The technology depends on something they call light-activated micro-actuators: At the heart of Starbridge's technology - and the cleverest and most innovative element of it - are the simple and inexpensive light-activated micro-actuators (LAMs) it uses to provide the energy and control for its range of miniaturised liquid handling devices (the company's products are typically 100 times smaller than those currently available and provide a high level of functionality). 'The LAMs, activated by infrared radiation, comprise a thermomechanically active material that generates movement when heated,' explained Starbridge's chief executive officer, Dr Joseph Cefai, a recognised expert in microfluidic system development. Sounds like it will make Pump Boy's job a lot easier. UPDATE: A reader notes that there's a company in the U.S. working on this sort of thing, too: A startup called Therafuse in Carlsbad, CA has been working on something along the same line, and may well be farther along. Their system seems to call for an adhesive patch and a replaceable insulin cartridge has been in animal testing for some time. Tired as I am of the multiple daily insulin injections, I've had little interest in the current style of pump. However, given developments in MEMS technology, there seems to be little reason why the measurement and dose metering can not be combined in a much less obtrusive design...a direction that Therafuse seems to be moving toward. More about Therafuse here and here: The microneedle can also make standard skin injections less painful and more precise. Dr. Pisano cofounded the startup TheraFuse, which has developed a prototype insulin-delivery system about the size of a poker chip that attaches to the skin with adhesive. A preloaded, disposable capsule delivers insulin continuously through a 120-micron stainless steel microneedle. The device’s pressurized reservoir propels the fluid, while a snap-in, reusable, chip-driven component meters the dosage. TheraFuse expects to start testing the device on animals in May 2003 and to have a product out by late 2005. Still in the lab stage is the microneedle’s most promising application of all: with funding from darpa and Becton-Dickinson, UC Berkeley bioengineering professor Dorian Liepmann has developed a tiny all-in-one syringe that shoots freeze-dried drugs into the skin painlessly through an array of up to 100 microneedles. Patients self-administer the doses by pushing the 10-mm-by-10-mm device–nicknamed the chiclet for what it resembles–against their skin for a few seconds, which forces the dry drug out of the reservoir, through the microneedle channels, and into the skin. The chiclet's appeal for distributing vaccines and antibiotics in developing countries is enormous: the freeze-dried drugs don’t require mixing, can be stored indefinitely, and can be distributed safely to patients to self-administer. It could also be used to deliver drugs that are dangerous or ineffective when taken orally, as a time-saving device for paramedics, for bioterrorism attacks, and in space. And it doesn't even hurt. posted by Sydney on 4/15/2004 09:19:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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