Local researchers develop snake fang-inspired injection patch

고통 없이 약물 주입...독사 이빨 닮은 주사 개발

Local scientists have developed a new, pain-free injection method as an alternative to syringes,... which might be good news for those of you who are afriad of the needle.
Our Cho Sung-min has more.
Visiting hospitals could easily turn into a nightmare for those who are scared of needles.
In spite of countless efforts to develop patient-friendlier injection methods,...needles remain as the most efficient device to administer medicine quickly and directly into the body.
Now, researchers at Soongsil University might have found a feasible solution, as they have come up with a new pain-free injection technique inspired by snake fangs, which inject venom into a prey as soon as the fang enters the skin.
The team created tiny snake fang-shaped capsules made with hydrogel material of the size of one-thousandth of a standard syringe.
Each of the hydrogel capsules has six pores filled with vaccines or other liquid drugs to be smoothly seeped into the body.
Researchers then attached one-hundred of these hydrogel capsules onto a small square patch.
Medicine can be delivered in just ten seconds without inducing any pain.
"The system is meticulously designed to deliver medicine directly through the skin. The immune cells in the skin would actively react to the medicine, boosting the patient's resistance to diseases."
The hydrogel patches are very versatile and can be used for other purposes such as cosmetic tools.
The team is currently working on commercializing the patches,...and added they would be cheaper and easily usable than normal syringes.
Cho Sung-min, Arirang News.