Vaccines via patch

A painless sticking plaster that delivers vaccine through the skin has passed important safety tests trial in people. Patch has a hundred-tiny hair-like micro needles that penetrate the skin’s surface. It is simple for people to stick on themselves and may help the people to get immunized, including those who are afraid of injections.

Unlike the standard flu jab, it doesn't need to be refrigerated, meaning pharmacies could easily stock it on their shelves for patients to buy.

It offers the same protection as a regular vaccine but without pain. The fundamental difference between the two systems is that the regular jab goes into the muscle and the patch punchers the uppermost layer of the skin.

In clinical trials the researchers compared a "dissolvable microneedle patch" to a traditional flu shot. The patch is about the size of a thumbprint and contains 100 needles that are 650 micrometres (or about 0.03 inches) long.

Vaccines vs patch

Patients prefer the patch to the jab for obvious reasons. The flu is responsible for around 48,000 deaths in U.S. annually. The microneedle patch was designed with transdermal patches in mind. Transdermal patches are another method of drug delivery, but they only work for a certain subset of drugs that can be absorbed through the skin. Most medicines are typically not well-absorbed through the skin because of a tough-to-penetrate layer called the stratum corneum. But this layer is incredibly thin — about 10 or 20 micrometers thick — which is thinner than a human hair. 

Analysis

Volunteers who tested it said they preferred it to injections. It offers the same protection as a regular vaccine, but without pain. The patch punctures the uppermost layers of the skin, whereas regular flu injections go all the way through and into muscle.

Many tested the patch alongside flu injections. Some of the 100 volunteers got the regular shot in the arm, while others applied the microneedle patch to their wrist for 20 minutes. Most said using the patch was painless, but some experienced mild side effects - redness, itching and tenderness in the area of skin area where it had been applied. These symptoms got better on their own over days. 

Assessment

Our assessment is that, the patch could revolutionise how flu and other vaccines are given, although more clinical tests over the next few years are needed to get the patch system approved for widespread use. It might also be good to use in young children, who tend not to like needles. The microneedle patch technology will make vaccines more accessible to many people. As the microneedle patch is painless and easy to use. This development is undoubtedly an important step towards a better way to deliver future vaccines.