Nanoject

Available for license.

WWW.NANOJECT.NET

Nanoject is Debiotech’s latest innovative nano technology, based on a patented biocompatible MEMS technology, for the design and manufacturing of micro-needle arrays. This technology is intended, in particular, for the improvement of intradermal and hypodermic drug delivery and/or interstitial fluid diagnostics.

Design	Properties
Extremely Sharp	Robust and skin friendly
Protected Side Holes	Non-coring during penetration
Controlled Length	Painless with Low Dead Volume
MEMS Precision	Biocompatible and Precise

MEMS Technology

Nanoject is based on MEMS (Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems), which is an area in which Debiotech has an established worldwide leading reputation within the medical field. MEMS technology leads, in particular, to extremely precise devices with very strong and excellent biocompatible properties. MEMS also allows precision in replication of micro-needles from one to the next, as well as high precision and yield in the manufacture of each needle, while being compatible with large scale batch production at low cost.

A new Painless Drug Delivery and Access mode

The Nanoject is intended to offer a new range of totally painless drug delivery capabilities. It can be made, by design, to offer unique hypodermic injection properties and functionalities while maximizing the bioavailability and efficacy of certain drug substances currently delivered subcutaneously. The Nanoject can also be used for the continuous extraction of interstitial fluid for diagnostic purposes, without limitation due to coring effect currently existing with other micro-needle technologies.

Sharpness and Side Holes

The Nanoject is characterised by its side holes which prevents the coring effect which normally blocks the inner through hole channel of the micro-needle during skin penetration. The side hole of each Nanoject is protected against any such coring while leaving the entire tip part of the needle available for a better circular penetration of the skin with unmet sharpness characteristics. Skin penetration with Nanoject needles ensures minimal damage to the skin, as no tissue is removed at the insertion of the needles, and eventually a better and quicker healing of the injection site.

Length and Dead Volume

The length of the Nanoject is designed in such a way that almost no pain is felt during insertion of the needles. The Nanoject could be designed between 300 and 1'000 microns in lengths to avoid most pain receptors in the skin. Each Nanoject microneedle is equivalent to a Gauge 39, resulting in an important reduction of the dead volume usually found in regular needles (from microliters to nanoliters) and thus saving significant amounts of drug compound. The total fluid resistance of a Nanoject patch, comprising a typical array of 25 microneedles, is not different from the one observed with an existing Gauge 24 needle for subcutaneous injection.

Fields of Application

Nanoject can be used in various fields of drug delivery, from painless injection of substance to the sampling of biological fluids for diagnostics. Nanoject is particularly appropriate for intradermal delivery of vaccines, allowing significant dose reduction while increasing the immune response (e.g. one fifth of the standard intramuscular dose of Influenza vaccine).

DEBIOTECH is developing this technology for immediate use, including with its various drug delivery techniques. This micro needle technology can be used in combination with the MEMS micropump for painless controlled insulin delivery, please see our "Insulin Nanopump™", or with other Debiotech devices such as the “ChronoFlow”, a smart Flow Restrictor, its “iPatch” active drug delivery technology, or in combination with pen-injectors.