Overcoming limits for pre-clinical small volume liquid delivery into skin and inflammation quantification

Introduction

Chronic inflammatory skin diseases have a huge burden on patients, their families, and the economy. New patient-friendly delivery methods are urgently needed targeting immune cells in the dermis. Injecting small volumes of biologics directly in skin lesions using needle-free technology would revolutionize treatments and shift the systemic dosing paradigm to individualized local dosing.

Challenges in Drug Testing

However, to realize this vision, there is a long path to test its effectiveness in pre-clinical (in vitro, ex vivo) and clinical studies. First, testing new drugs is costly and often involves tests with animals with poor translational value because of differences in skin anatomy with humans.

Project Goals

Therefore, with this project, we will establish the proof of concept that BuBble Gun, a minimal invasive injection method, can effectively be used for innovative drug testing via Skin-On-Chip technology.

Research Focus

We will study in vitro skin inflammation response with:

• Plasma activated water
• Active pharmaceutical ingredients used in treating skin diseases such as eczema (atopic dermatitis) and psoriasis.

Collaboration and Future Plans

Lastly, in collaboration with several stakeholders, we will prepare a business plan to clear the way for further developments and establish the best path to revolutionize drug delivery into skin and cosmetics.