A Purdue University team created a biometric platform that uses an automatic injector to push a drug into the skin model and see how it interacts with the skin tissues. The technology can help drug manufacturers create new formulations and injection devices of medications. Source: Purdue UniversityBiologics, drugs produced from living organisms or components of living organisms, make up eight of the top ten best-selling drugs in the United States. Because they are administered by subcutaneous injection (into the tissue layer between the skin and the muscle) rather than intravenous infusion (into a vein), users can take these drugs at home. While popular, this method is known to cause pain and discomfort during and right after injection, which discourages some patients from using it.

A technology developed by Purdue University researchers could help drug manufacturers develop both medication formulations and injection devices that reduce the pain and discomfort associated with these types of injections.

Bumsoo Han, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue’s College of Engineering, explained that the biometric platform he and his team developed will help drug makers predict the amount of mechanical stress and interstitial fluid pressure, the causes of tissue swelling believed to be responsible for the pain, that result from their products. An automatic injector pushes the drug into a skin model to see how it interacts with skin tissues. In this way, the platform measures stress and pressure in order to quantify injection-induced tissue swelling.

The researchers hope this technology will help drug makers gain a better understanding of how much pain an injectable medication may cause a patient and aid in the development of both drugs and devices that minimize that pain.