Engineering news
Antibiotics are becoming less effective due to over-prescription and misuse, as bacteria mutate into drug-resistant strains. This is made worse by orally administrated antibiotics, which interact with the bacteria inside the human gut.
Now, researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have developed a new type of skin patch that administers drugs directly into the bloodstream, through thousands of individual microneedles.
These ‘microarray patches’ can be attached to the skin, making it easier for patients to administer the drugs themselves, and could extend the useful lifespan of existing antibiotics.
“One of the biggest problems is that the huge majority of the drugs are taken orally,” explains Ryan Donnelly, the lead researcher on the work. “This means that a small quantity of the compound often finds its way into the colon, creating the perfect breeding ground for drug-resistant bacteria.”
“However, it is clearly impractical to expect patients to inject themselves at home, especially considering that more than 20% of people are needle-phobic. Admitting patients to hospital every time they need an antibiotic would quickly bankrupt healthcare providers.”
The patch that Donnelly’s team are developing has tiny needles that painlessly piece the skin, and then turn into a jelly-like material that keeps the holes open and allows delivery of antibiotics for absorption into the bloodstream.
“We hope to show that this unique antibiotic patch prevents resistance development,” he said. “If we are successful, this approach will significantly extend the lifespan of existing antibiotics, allowing time for development of the next generation of antibiotics. In doing so, this work has the potential to save many lives.”
The researchers hope that the patches could be in active use within five years. “For the first time, we’re in control of the rate at which medicine goes into the skin,” said Donnelly. “I started thinking: what are the big health challenges we can use this to address? There probably isn’t a bigger health challenge today than antibiotic resistance.”
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.