Development of Microneedle Patches for Insulin Delivery

Diabetes is a leading cause of disability and death. Moreover, it has a huge social and economic impact. Patients with diabetes have a better quality of life when they receive insulin properly than without it. However, some diabetic patients have trypanophobia, so they often avoid insulin injections resulting in life-threatening conditions. Therefore, this study aims to develop microneedle patches for transdermal insulin delivery to reduce pain from insulin injection and extend the shelf-life of insulin stored at room temperature. The insulin microneedle patches were fabricated by coating a mixture of insulin and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on plastic microneedle patches. A histological section showed that the microneedles had excellent mechanical strength to penetrate porcine cadaver skin. The stability test using the insulin Elisa kit indicated good stability of the insulin/PVA coated on the microneedle patches stored at room temperature whereas its biological activity was higher than 90% after 30 days of storage.