When my son was five years old, he came down with an ailment that needed a blood test. I don’t remember (conveniently forgot?) if we told him before we went for the test or as we arrived – but he would not get out of the car. We had to pull him out of his car seat and pry his little fingers off the car door to get him inside. Not fun for him or his parents.
Shots, needles, syringes – whatever you want to call them – for many the thought of having a sharp object piercing their skin is one of the most terrifying things they can think of. Whether for a blood test, a vaccine, antibiotic, or insulin – parenteral administration of drugs is certainly not very popular.
While not very popular, they are effective. There are, of course, other ways to deliver drugs through the skin for therapeutic effects inside the body. Transdermals, or patches, which deliver therapeutic agents through the skin non-invasively, had a market value of $27.42B last year with an expected revenue of $40.01B by 2032 according to a recent report from Polaris Market Research.1
Not only are transdermals being studied to replace traditional needle/syringe delivery methods but they are also being looked at for other dosage forms – as transdermals – like other parenterals – bypass the gastrointestinal tract, eliminating a lot of difficulties associated with the stomach. And, of course, there is the issue of patient-centricity, comfort, and ease of administration. Eliminate the needle and patient compliance improves.
Thus, I was excited to read a recent press release about Biotts, a Wroclaw, Poland-based biopharma company that, according to their press release, has completed a proof-of-concept project that delivered insulin transdermally.
I don’t have the space here to go into all of the details regarding the project, (more company info is here https://biotts.com/) but it certainly sounds promising, and in my opinion, truly embraces the trend of patient-centricity and fostering patient compliance.
For anyone who was ever frightened by an injection, this new development might not eliminate all the needles in your life but it is certainly a step in the right direction.
Mike Auerbach
Editor In Chief
[email protected]