Due to their intrinsic advantages over classical hypodermic needles, microneedles have received much attention over the last two decades and will likely soon appear in clinics. Although the vast majority of research is focused on designing microneedles for the painless delivery of drugs, their applications for diagnostic purposes have also provided promising results. In this paper, the main advances in the field of microneedles for diagnostic and patient monitoring purposes are introduced and critically discussed.
The minimally- or non-invasive delivery of therapeutic agents through the skin has several advantages compared to other delivery routes and plays an important role in medical care routines. The development and refinement of new technologies is leading to a drastic expansion of the arsenal of drugs that can benefit from this delivery strategy and is further intensifying its impact in medicine. Within Canada, as well, a few research groups have worked on the development of state-of-the-art transdermal delivery technologies. Within this short review, we aim to provide a critical overview of the development of these technologies in the Canadian environment.
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