Design and development of insulin microneedles for diabetes treatment

Drug Deliv Transl Res. 2022 May;12(5):973-980. doi: 10.1007/s13346-021-00981-y. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Abstract

As a painless and minimally invasive method of self-administration, microneedle is very promising to replace subcutaneous injection of insulin for type I diabetes treatment. Since the introduction of microneedles, many scholars have paid attention to and studied this technology, which has made it developed rapidly. However, there is no product on the market or in clinical trials at present. The reason is that there are still many technical problems in microneedle drug delivery system, such as the perfect integration of stable, controllable, fast, long-lasting, safe, and other necessary conditions. Here, we review the achievements that researchers have made that contain one or more of the above factors, and put some ideas to solve the limitations of insulin delivery by microneedles for reference.

Keywords: Drug delivery; Insulin; Microneedles; Transdermal.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Cutaneous
  • Diabetes Mellitus* / drug therapy
  • Drug Delivery Systems / methods
  • Humans
  • Insulin*
  • Needles

Substances

  • Insulin