No more painful injections: This Dutch startup just got funded to develop an alternative to needles

MyLife Technologies, a Leiden-based tech startup that was co-founded by Pieter Jan Vos trained as a chemist at Leiden University and the Ecole Superieur de Commerce de Paris (ESCP Europe) in 2012, has developed an alternative to needle injections and oral tablets and capsules. Their innovation, including a patch with microneedles porous, has received an investment of €300,000 from proof-of-concept fund UNIIQ. The investment was announced by Mayor Henri Lenferink during the Dutch Life Sciences conference in Leiden.

Painless drug intake

The new innovation, which comprises a patch and microneedles porous, holds immense significance in the world of medicine. It injects drugs and vaccines into the skin without causing any pain to the patient. The technology can provide significant alternatives to existing dosage forms, including injections and oral medications. The microneedle patches are minimally invasive and painless. It can also allow self-administration by the patient.

Bid bye to the side effects

There are certain amounts of drugs that have limited efficacy and serious side effects. Also, a large part of the drug is lost in the digestive system. Considering this, the microneedle patches have been designed to control the rate of release of the drug. While some drugs require a fast delivery others desire slow, constant release to the body. And, a patch with microneedles porous is capable of doing so.

Efficient intake through the skin

The available patches without microneedles are slow and inefficiently transport through the skin. As the outer layer of the skin serves as a natural barrier, it is only 10 to 50 per cent of the drug that actually enters the body. Notably, the existing patches are said to leave a high residual amount of drugs that may pose a threat. With MyLife’s patch with microneedles porous, drug intake is expected to be taken up more efficiently.

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