Learn more about a new approach to drug delivery, which could cut the frequency and pain of long-lasting injections through tiny crystals of drugs.
Thanks to an innovative "depot" injection approach from a team at MIT, long-lasting shots could become a lot less painful. Involving the injection of tiny, drug-delivering crystals suspended within a solvent, the team's method could deliver drugs with thinner needles, fewer injections, and a lot less pain overall. Describing the approach in a study in Nature Chemical Engineering, the team says that the method could work with contraceptives and other drugs that are taken consistently over time. "We showed that we can have very controlled, sustained delivery, likely for multiple months and even years through a small needle," said Giovanni Traverso, the senior study author and a mechanical engineering professor at MIT, according to a press release. Read More: Fear of Needles Is a Real Thing. Here's How to Overcome It Drug Delivery in Slow, Steady Shots A depot injection is a type of shot that releases a drug slowly and steadily over time. While other depot injections have been developed to solidify into drug deposits beneath the skin, the polymers that are added to these shots to allow them to solidify add to their bulk, comprising around 23 percent to 98 percent of their overall weight. This requires them to be injected through thicker needles that are difficult for patients to tolerate. To develop a better alternative, the MIT team devised a shot that could be delivered through a thinner needle and still last for at least three months. Working with a contraceptive drug that transforms into crystals suspended in a solvent, the…