A battery-powered skin patch that can administer medication shows promise for the treatment of PAD (peripheral artery disease), as well as healing some skin ulcers and burns, researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.

The patch is especially useful for administering drugs that cannot be given orally and can result in side effects if injected, the authors wrote.

Yogeshvar Kalia, from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva & University of Lausanne, Switzerland and team write that the power-operated skin patch delivers FGFs (fibroblast growth factors) – proteins that have had promising results in treating PAD and some skin conditions. PAD causes pain in the buttocks, legs and feet because the arteries in the legs are blocked.

FGFs cannot be administered orally because they become inactive. If they are injected there is a serious risk of kidney and eye damage. Previous studies had shown that transdermal iontophoresis, a drug delivery technology, can administer medicines made from small proteins. However, would this system, which involves helping medicines go in through the skin with tiny electric currents, work for FGFs (larger proteins)?

Laboratory test showed that iontophoresis does work. The scientists used human and pig skin. It needed electricity – without it no FGF was delivered. Another advantage was that four times as much medication remained in the skin than passed through. The drug stayed biologically active in the skin for much longer.

The authors concluded:

“The results demonstrate the feasibility of using transdermal iontophoresis to deliver correctly folded, biologically active human basic fibroblast growth factor, a 17.4 kDa protein, into and across the skin. They underline the potential of the technology to enable noninvasive protein delivery via the patient-friendly transdermal route.”

Written by Christian Nordqvist