Needle-free injections

Devices that can deliver drugs into the body without using a needle could help improve the success of treatments for type 1 diabetes, according to researchers involved in clinical trials of a new vaccine for the disease.

The vaccine, being developed by researchers at the University of Bristol and King’s College, London, works by stimulating the production of protective immune cells that help restore the body’s insulin-producing system.

However, the needle used to get the vaccine into the body causes damage to the skin and can trigger an aggressive immune response that undoes some of the positive effects of the vaccination.

New technologies being developed at the University of Bath could one day allow doctors to deliver vaccines and other treatments into the body without having to use a needle. This would avoid triggering an aggressive immune response by the body during vaccine treatments.

"This is very important because we don't want to turn on the immune system, and in recent years it has become clear that one of the things that aggravates the immune system is damage," said Prof. Colin Dayan. Devices being looked into by the University of Bath researchers include special patches which use a small electric current to ‘pump’ medication across the skin, and other systems which use a series of micro needles to deliver drugs through the upper-most layer of the skin.