HP is looking to leverage its inkjet technology for a medicine delivery system that could obsolete the dreaded hypodermic needle.
The company is licensing a medical patch it has developed to Ireland’s Crospon that potentially can replace hypodermic needles or pills for delivering vaccines or other types of medication to patients. The patch contains up to 90,000 microneedles per square inch, microprocessors and a thermal unit.
Medications contained in the patch are heated and then injected through the needles. Processors can monitor drug delivery, deliver doses over extended periods of time or deliver drugs in response to a patient’s vital signs (e.g., blood pressure or heart rate), depending on how it is programmed.
“You can have combinations of different drugs delivered at different times,” said Joe Beyers, vice president of HP’s intellectual property licensing group.
Better yet, the inkjet technology will refuse to work if the medicine has been on the shelf too long. Just kidding.
I would pay twice as much for a medicine delivery system that wasn’t a long, pointy needle that gets stuck into my skin. No lie.
(via GeekPress)