The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is developing a new generation of microneedle patches as a painless, easy-to-use alternative to deliver a simpler form of paediatric HIV treatment to infected children, reports News24.
Hannah Wellington, a PhD student at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) who is developing the patches under the supervision of Professor Yayha Choonara and lecturer Mershen Govender, said that many children still rely on crushed adult tablets, which are difficult for caregivers to administer and which can lead to inaccurate dosing and unpredictable release.
Instead of taking daily tablets, the easy-to-apply patches can provide medicine for several days.
“We want to create something specifically designed to be simple, child-friendly and effective. Caregivers want to do the right thing, but the current system is quite burdensome,” she added.
“The slow-release patches will dissolve within a few minutes after application, ensuring that the right amount of medicine is delivered into the skin. And you apply them like a plaster – on areas an infant cannot reach, like the back of the arm, the shoulder or the back, decreasing the chance of removal.”
She said they would also eliminate the stress of measuring doses for liquid medicines or crushing tablets, which must be mixed with meals.
Nelson Dlamini, South African National Aids Council spokesperson, said that in 2023, about 70 000 children under 15 were not on treatment. Since then, this number has slightly improved, but about 50% of these children are still not on treatment.
Wellington said the intention was to keep the price affordable, “for them to be produced at a cost similar to current paediatric HIV medicines on the market”.
While the patch is being developed with South African children in mind, it is hoped the product could also be rolled out in other middle-to-low-income countries
At WADDP, Wellington and her supervisors can print 3D patches in-house and customise them for different age groups and dosing needs, she added.
“With the growing accessibility of 3D printing technology and the decreasing cost of the printers, larger pharmaceutical companies and compounding pharmacies could locally produce these and customise them based on the weight-based dosage requirements of the patients,” she told News24.
“They are versatile and painless, and the dose can be adjusted by increasing the size of the patch, increasing the number of needles per patch, or applying more than one patch.”
The beauty of 3D-printed patches is that they don’t need refrigeration and are light and easy to transport.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Study affirms benefits of early ARV therapy for HIV+ newborns
New approaches to dosing newborns with abacavir
Generics agreement on paediatric HIV med