Do you dread getting vaccinations because of the needle? Well, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed what could be a game-changer for vaccinations. Dorian Liepmann, a professor of mechanical and bioengineering says their needleless technology is called MucoJet, and it’s designed to self-administer vaccines.
"What we have is a pill that actually shoots a jet of drug into your cheek without pain. We use a reaction in here just like vinegar and baking soda. Once that starts reacting, it makes a gas and builds up the pressure inside of the pill. On the end of the nozzle, we have a membrane that holds the pressure in and when it gets to a certain pressure, it releases. This piston pushes down, pushes the drug out and it shoots a jet of the drug into the cheek."
Right now, this is a proof-of-concept study, but Liepmann hopes it will be available within the next five to ten years.
"The next step is actually a smaller pill and this one’s actually designed to be swallowed. One of the target possibilities would be insulin for diabetics – swallow a pill versus having to take an injection."
