MIT: Ultrasound patch to deliver medicine to the body

2023: Patch Announcement

On April 19, 2023, a team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced the creation of an innovative ultrasound patch capable of painlessly delivering drugs to the body through the skin.

Most drugs are delivered orally or intravenously, the researchers say. However, when administered through the skin, much more targeted delivery can be provided, which will increase the effectiveness of therapy for certain diseases. In addition, in this case, the gastrointestinal tract in which the loss of the active substance can occur is excluded from the process. For the same reason, it becomes possible to reduce the dose of the drug.

Ultrasound patch for drug delivery to the body

The developed product consists of a patch in which several disc-shaped piezoelectric converters are built: they are located in small chambers filled with a drug solution. When electric current is applied, the converters create tiny bubbles that burst when they hit the skin. This creates micro jets of fluid that can penetrate the hard stratum corneum.

It is noted that exposure to ultrasound increases skin permeability for low molecular weight drugs. The researchers showed that when delivering vitamin B using the new method, the amount of drug entering the tissue was 26 times higher than the volume that comes through the skin when using other methods. In addition, the authors of the US technology have found that their patch is able to deliver the same amount of vitamin B in 30 minutes as could be introduced using a microneedle patch within six hours. The researchers say the approach could be used to treat a variety of skin conditions and is planned to be adapted further to deliver hormones, muscle relaxants and other drugs.^[1]

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