Old and new. That's a conventional needle next to an array of microneedles. The microneedles are about 280 microns tall (a micron is a millionth of a meter) and are about a millimeter apart. They can be deployed in a few different manners, noted O'Mahony.
In one scenario, a patient would apply a patch containing plain microneedles onto his or her arm. This would make holes. The user would then apply a second patch coated with medicine, which would then seep into the pores made by the patch.
In a second scenario, the microneedle patch would be coated with medicine fixed by dissolvable coating. You'd put it on, the coating would dissolve, and medicine would enter your bloodstream in a time released fashion.
In a third scenario, the needles would be hollow, similar to injection needles now. Medicine would flow from a reservoir above the needles. This is harder to pull off, but the organization is experimenting with it.
Photo by Tyndall
