Afraid of medical needles? If so than that the next news surely will be a good one for you. HP announced today that it had licensed to Crospon, a medical device developer based in Galway, Ireland its new drug delivery method. The new method is represented by a new skin patch developed by HP Labs. Accordintg to the agreement Crospon will manufacture the patch and manage all marketing, sales and support of the technology.

The HP’s solution, which was inspired from its printing technologies, uses microneedles that barely penetrate the skin. HP designed the microneedles in such a way that they avoid the nerves.

Thanks to this approach the pain and the discomfort produced by the traditional hypodermic needles is eliminated, but the medication is still delivered into the blood stream.

Also, another advantage of this system is that lower and more precise dosages might be used during a specific treatment.

Because the drugs are injected intradermal, below the surface of the skin, the new technology is better than traditional, transdermal skin patches, such as those used in the treatment of nicotine dependency, which are based on the absorption as delivery mechanism. Also the skin acts as a natural barrier, which means that many drugs can’t be delivered through transdermal patches.

“We encourage companies like Crospon to apply HP’s intellectual property in innovative ways to help more people benefit from these important technologies,” said Joe Beyers, vice president, Intellectual Property Licensing, HP. “By licensing core intellectual property in thermal inkjet technology for use in a drug delivery product, HP breathes new life into its mature technology while capitalizing on the booming healthcare and life sciences market.”

The skin patch developed by HP measures roughly 2.5 centimeters square, is 3 millimeters thick and it includes a battery as the power source in order to control the microneedels responsible for the delivery of the drugs.

“This industry-first skin patch invented by HP allows Crospon to offer a superior drug delivery platform for doctors and patients,” said John O’Dea, chief executive officer, Crospon. “We look forward to working with our pharmaceutical customers to bring this breakthrough solution to the market.” 

According to Crospon the skin patch can be used, for example, to painlessly deliver insulin, but the technology also allows the delivery of multiple drugs in a specific period of time.