According to the report of Mehr news agency, quoting Tehran University, this product, under the supervision of Dr. Ali Pourkhalilfaculty member Schools The ierdisciplinary sciences and technologies of the University of Tehran have been designed and built, on the first day of the 25th Exhibition of Research, Technology and Technology Market Achievemes of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, it was unveiled in the presence of the Minister of Science, Research and Technology.
Dr Pourkhalil The head of the research and production team of this product, referring to the main problem in the local treatme of joi diseases such as arthritis Rheumatoid With systemic drugs, he said: in arthritis RheumatoidUsually, the drug is administered orally or by injection of methotrexate. These methods deliver the drug to the eire body and cause severe side effects such as nausea, hair loss, liver damage, and digestive problems, but the produced microneedle patch delivers the drug directly to the inflamed joi through the skin, so it has very few side effects and the drug affects exactly where there is pain and inflammation.
The purpose of this research and product production is to help arthritis paties Rheumatoid He said and added: These paties are forced to use the drug every week orally or by injection, and the side effects of the drug greatly reduce the quality of life of these paties. Therefore, our goal was to create a simple treatme method, without injection pain and with very few side effects, so that the patie can easily stick this drug on the joi at home without going to medical ceers, and the drug will be released automatically within a few days.
Explaining the technical innovation and design of this product, he said: This patch is like a small sticker that is placed on a joi (such as a knee or wrist). In this patch, instead of ordinary glue, very special and elastic materials (hyperelastic) and iellige austic structure are used, so that even when the joi moves or swells, the patch does not tear off and remains strong.
Faculty member Schools Ierdisciplinary Sciences and Technologies of Tehran University explained about the characteristics of microneedles in this patch as follows: microneedles are very small (the diameter of a hair) and are made of hydrogel. As soon as the patch is placed on the joi, these needles are gely inserted io the skin (painless), then they swell up by absorbing body water and lock io the skin like a small hook so that the patch remains motionless, while the biggest problem with the previous patches was that they were torn off quickly on swollen moving jois or separated from the skin when the hand got wet, but the new design is such that the patch gets wet even while moving. Or the swelling of the joi remains firm.
Dr. Pour Khalil explained the drug release and corol mechanism by this patch on the target tissue as follows: The drug (methotrexate) is inside the hydrogel microneedles. When the needles penetrate the skin and absorb some water, they slowly release the medicine over several days just under the skin near the joi. This makes the medicine work only on the inflammation site instead of spreading throughout the body.
Dr. Pourkhalil stated that the biggest advaage of this product compared to injection or pill is the significa reduction of systemic side effects, elimination of injection pain, the possibility of using it at home and better adherence of the patie to the treatme, among the main advaages, and very high adhesion in real conditions, no need for chemical glue, stable drug release, and a design compatible with joi movemes are among the unique advaages of this patch.
According to Dr. Pourkhalil, this product is on the way to commercialization and its pate has been registered, and by attracting investors, it will soon eer the stages of semi-industrial production and clinical trials.
In response to the question whether this technology can be used in other drugs? He said: The same patch can be used for other ai-inflammatory drugs, joi pain relievers, even skin cancer and other skin diseases.
In the end, Dr. Pourkhalil answered the question whether this patch can improve access to treatme in deprived areas or for paties who do not have access to regular injections. He said: Exactly. The patie just takes a few patches from the pharmacy and uses them at home. There is no need for injections in the clinic or freque trips. This issue is very helpful especially for remote villages and cities.
