Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has abundant medicinal resources and distinctive pharmacological properties. So, TCM presents considerable promise in clinical treatments. However, challenges such as poor bioavailability hinder broader clinical adoption of TCM. Microneedles (MNs), an innovative and minimally invasive transdermal platform, have emerged to enhance the therapeutic performance of TCM. The integration of MNs with TCM (TCM-MNs) overcomes key limitations of conventional administration routes to reach more targeted and efficient delivery. The structural and compositional diversity of TCM ingredients necessitates diverse TCM-MNs designs, especially "unification of medicines and excipients".

The purpose of this research study is to check whether the MNS Miracus Patch (the study's investigational device, a small patch made up of microneedles that dissolve in the skin and can potentially deliver vaccines in a pain-free way) is safe to use and tolerated by humans when administered for 10 minutes, both as a plain patch (with no vaccine) and as a loaded patch (with the tetanus- containing vaccine included). This study will also investigate whether the patch delivers the correct dose of the vaccine in the loaded patches by checking the immune response of participants.As the device has not been tested clinically in humans before, this will be a first-in-human study involving healthy participants only, who have not previously received the full course of tetanus diphtheria vaccinations. This research study will take approximately 4-6 weeks of the participants' time.

Peri-implantitis management is undergoing a significant paradigm shift from conventional mechanical debridement toward immunopharmacological approaches. This comprehensive review examines the molecular mechanisms underlying peri-implantitis, highlighting its complex immunological nature through single-cell sequencing studies and cell-interaction patterns. The research synthesizes evidence on host-modulatory therapies, including targeted anti-cytokine biologics and specialized pro-resolving mediators, alongside advanced drug delivery systems such as stimuli-responsive hydrogels and exosome-based platforms. While these innovative therapeutic strategies demonstrate considerable promise in preclinical and early translational stages, most require prospective clinical validation. Additionally, machine-learning models emerge as valuable tools for risk stratification. This emerging evidence-based framework offers substantial potential for improving peri-implantitis treatment outcomes through precision immunopharmacology.

Three-dimensional printing technologies are transforming biosensing by enabling the creation of fully integrated devices that consolidate sample preparation, fluid handling, sensing elements, and structural components within a single manufacturing process. This approach significantly minimizes manual assembly requirements, reduces sample volumes, and enables rapid analysis suitable for point-of-care or wearable applications. The perspective examines recent advances in 3D-printed biosensors across biomedical, environmental, and wearable domains, evaluating various additive manufacturing techniques including fused deposition modeling, stereolithography, and digital light processing. The analysis emphasizes the critical relationship between material properties and functionality, addressing filament preparation, substrate selection, and surface functionalization strategies. The article identifies key technical challenges such as resolution limitations, material conductivity, biomolecule stability, and sustainability concerns while proposing solutions through hybrid printing approaches and innovative low-temperature methods.

University of Connecticut researchers have developed a microneedle patch vaccine that addresses significant challenges in foot and mouth disease prevention for livestock. This innovative delivery system eliminates the need for traditional needle injections, which are often the most difficult aspect of vaccine distribution on farms. Foot and mouth disease causes severe economic damage, with potential losses reaching $228 billion from major US outbreaks. The existing adenovirus-based vaccine requires cold-chain maintenance and careful preparation, creating logistical complications and contamination risks. Additionally, injection marks reduce meat quality and market value. The temperature-stabilized patch vaccine offers a safer, more practical alternative that simplifies administration while maintaining vaccine efficacy, potentially transforming disease prevention in cattle, sheep, and goat populations.

Researchers have developed innovative microneedles with light- and temperature-dependent properties to enhance transdermal drug delivery. While traditional transdermal administration offers significant advantages such as avoiding first-pass hepatic metabolism and improving patient compliance, the skin's barrier function limits drug permeation. This advancement addresses a critical challenge in the field by enabling controlled, responsive drug release through the skin. The new microneedles leverage photochemical and thermal stimuli to optimize penetration while maintaining structural integrity, potentially overcoming mechanical limitations of conventional microneedle matrices and advancing clinical applications in personalized medicine.

PatSnap Eureka presents a comprehensive platform for analyzing the subcutaneous drug delivery landscape, leveraging advanced agentic AI technology to accelerate pharmaceutical innovation. The platform integrates over two billion structured data points encompassing patents, scientific research, litigation records, and technological developments. Designed for life sciences professionals, it enables organizations to innovate 75 percent faster while reducing costs by 25 percent. Available in both cloud and on-premises deployment options, PatSnap Eureka serves over 18,000 global innovators with robust privacy controls and enterprise-grade security, offering specialized agents for intellectual property analysis, engineering applications, and materials research to support evidence-based decision-making in drug delivery development.

Nearly 100% skin penetration efficiency was achieved, particularly for UV-treated needles. Dye permeation at 37 °C was significantly higher than that at 25 °C, whereas UV irradiation effectively suppressed this thermally promoted permeation by elevating the LCST. This dual-responsive microneedle matrix system provides a programmable strategy for mechanically robust and externally regulated transdermal delivery.

Transdermal drug delivery systems, including microneedles (MNs), offer advantages over oral administration by bypassing gastrointestinal degradation and first-pass metabolism, while also reducing injection-associated pain. Hydrogel-forming microneedles (HFMNs) represent a promising advancement in this field as an alternative strategy. This study aimed to develop an HFMN using poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(N-vinyl caprolactam) (PVA/PNVCL) with citric acid (CA) as crosslinking agent for transdermal delivery of captopril as a drug model.

Microneedles represent a transformative advancement in transdermal vaccine delivery, circumventing first-pass metabolism to enhance therapeutic efficacy and patient compliance. This comprehensive review examines diverse microneedle technologies, including solid, coated, dissolving, hollow, and hydrogel-forming variants, alongside innovative engineering fabrication techniques such as micromoulding, three-dimensional printing, aerosol jet printing, and electrohydrodynamic strategies. Recent developments in laser-based techniques and electrospray technology have further expanded microneedle vaccine platform capabilities. These engineering innovations demonstrate significant promise through improved manufacturing efficiency, enhanced mechanical properties, self-administration feasibility, portability, and therapeutic performance. As infectious disease outbreaks increase globally, these emerging technologies are viewed as essential for developing effective, accessible vaccination solutions and controlling infection spread.

Researchers have developed an innovative skin-deep microneedle sensor designed to monitor drug clearance while simultaneously detecting early signs of kidney and liver dysfunction. This advanced biosensor technology offers significant clinical advantages by providing real-time pharmacokinetic data directly from interstitial fluid, enabling healthcare professionals to assess organ function during drug metabolism. The device combines exceptional signal quality with robust durability, making it practical for continuous patient monitoring. By tracking drug clearance patterns and identifying hepatic or renal complications at their earliest stages, this technology promises to enhance personalized medicine approaches and improve patient safety through more precise therapeutic management and early intervention strategies.

Using a 3D printing-based, photolithography-free fabrication process, the system features a flexible, 3D programmed, individually addressable microneedle sensor array with backward-facing barbs for conformal and stable organ interfacing and 3D parenchymal probing. Electrochemical functionalization of microneedle tips enable concurrent monitoring and spatial mapping of key biochemical markers, such as electrolytes, metabolites and oxygenation, in deep organs for at least 7 days.

By creating transient microchannels across the stratum corneum with minimal tissue disruption, MN arrays enable minimally invasive delivery into the epidermis and superficial dermis. Compared with conventional injection and oral administration, MN systems may reduce pain, improve patient acceptability, and bypass first-pass metabolism. More importantly, the skin is not merely a passive route of administration. It constitutes an immunologically active tissue containing Langerhans cells, dermal dendritic cells, macrophages, and resident memory T cells, thereby offering a biologically relevant interface for therapeutic intervention in immune-mediated disease.

The importance of overcoming the stratum corneum barrier is central to efficient MN-mediate transdermal and intradermal delivery. This paper summarizes MNs technology in the transdermal drug delivery era. Extensive studies and research have been conducted in the fabrication of MNs due to its advantages. Various MN design types, material, and manufacturing methods have been illustrated in this paper.

MNs are considered innovative drug delivery systems with unique benefits. They are the perfect platform for pharmaceutical and biological applications since they have improved pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy when delivering active substances to the targeted spot. They have offered groundbreaking solutions for the delivery of active therapeutic ingredients employing MNs in life-threatening conditions. All application areas, such as illness detection, disease therapy, immune-biological, dermatological, and aesthetic applications, have seen significant advancements. MNs play a crucial role in achieving a drug release profile; selecting the appropriate material, manufacturing procedure, needle geometry, and design is vital. Clinical trials on MNs have been conducted, demonstrating the scientific community’s significant interest in using devices for various therapeutic purposes. As a result, specific MN devices have made it to the commercial market. The development of these minimally invasive devices would provide a variety of therapeutic opportunities for drug delivery via buccal, oral, and ocular routes. Some studies have reported that MN-based delivery of antihypertensive drugs improves the transdermal delivery of these drugs.

Growth factors are important for wound healing because they regulate key cellular functions. However, in diabetic wounds, these growth factors are rapidly broken down by other enzymes known as proteases. This dramatically slows down wound recovery. At the same time, diabetic wounds are characterised by persistently high levels of inflammation. We wanted to tackle these two issues by using microneedles for both delivery and extraction. It is minimally invasive, can be fabricated with precision, and allows for the active compounds to be painlessly administered directly into wounds. Microneedle patches are excellent materials for wound healing.

The detection and quantification of protein biomarkers in interstitial fluid is hampered by challenges in its sampling and analysis. Here we report the use of a microneedle patch for fast in vivo sampling and on-needle quantification of target protein biomarkers in interstitial fluid. We used plasmonic fluor—an ultrabright fluorescent label—to improve the limit of detection of various interstitial fluid protein biomarkers by nearly 800-fold compared with conventional fluorophores, and a magnetic backing layer to implement conventional immunoassay procedures on the patch and thus improve measurement consistency.

Researchers have developed a new technique to heal wounds using microneedle patches to deliver drugs under the skin. This approach is specifically designed for people with type 2 diabetes, whose injuries often heal slowly or not at all due to their condition.

As a transdermal drug delivery method, microneedles offer minimal invasiveness, painlessness, and precise in-situ treatment. However, current microneedles rely on passive diffusion, leading to uncontrollable drug penetration. To overcome this, we developed a pneumatic microneedle patch that uses live Enterobacter aerogenes as microengines to actively control drug delivery. These microbes generate gas, driving drugs into deeper tissues, with adjustable glucose concentration allowing precise control over the process.

In this work, we developed sodium alginate MNs loaded with vancomycin as an innovative approach for treating skin infections, specifically MRSA. Using a double-casting method, we successfully fabricated MNs that exhibited high integrity and were capable of effectively penetrating an ex vivo skin model, as confirmed by light microscopy and mechanical testing. MNs demonstrated substantial drug delivery ability, with 35% of the loaded vancomycin permeated through full-thickness neonatal porcine skin and 10% remaining within the skin after 24 h. This results in an overall delivery efficiency of 45%, indicating the potential of MNs to provide effective dosing for antimicrobial therapy. Furthermore, antibacterial activity tests confirmed the potent effects of the vancomycin-loaded MNs against C. acnes and S. aureus, confirming their suitability as a treatment modality for skin infections.