Sustained release of drugs over a pre-determined period is required to maintain an effective therapeutic dose for variety of drug delivery applications. Transdermal devices such as polymeric microneedle patches and other microneedle-based devices have been utilized for sustained release of their payload. Swift clearing of drugs can be prevented either by designing a slow-degrading polymeric matrix or by providing physiochemical triggers to different microneedle-based devices for on-demand release. These long-acting transdermal devices prevent the burst release of drugs. This review highlights the recent advances of microneedle-based devices for sustained release of vaccines, hormones, and antiretrovirals with their prospective safe clinical translation.
Keywords: Detachable microneedles; Long-acting microneedles; On-demand drug-delivery; Polymer microneedles; Sustained drug-delivery; Vaccines.
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