Abstract

The dissolvable, biocompatible polymer microneedles (MNs) offer competitive advantages over those made of other materials, e.g. added functionality, active and controlled release, improved resistance to shear-induced breakage, cost effectiveness, and additional safety, etc. Although casting or centrifugation is widely used to fabricate polymer MNs and other alternatives have been demonstrated, they are either time-consuming, relatively tedious or involved in complicated procedure. Here, we proposed a novel technique by filling the through-hole mold with polymer solution in conjunction with heating. The filter paper was used as the patch material. The results showed that the polyvinyl- pryrrolidone (PVP) microneedles can be obtained around 30 mins at 65 oC heating temperature. The method is relatively simple, easy, low-cost and reliable, which has great potential for mass production.

Keywords

microneedle, transdermal drug delivery, filter paper, polydimethylsiloxane, polyvinylpryrrolidone