Painless transdermal delivery of therapeutic peptides for the treatment of scleroderma
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Peptide drugs are important biologic therapeutics used for the treatment of various diseases. However, owing to short in vivo half-life, frequent peptide injections using invasive hypodermic syringes are required to produce successful therapeutic outcomes. Here, we present a microneedle (MN)-assisted transdermal delivery of peptides for long-acting. For this purpose, therapeutic peptides for the treatment of scleroderma were precisely coated on the biodegradable bullet-shaped MN arrays and their loading efficiency was evaluated through dissolution tests of coated MNs. Aqueous coating solutions including peptides were coated with high precision and accuracy. An in vivo pilot study using scleroderma animal model showed prolonged retention of peptides delivered by MNs to the target skin, leading an anti-fibrotic effect in scleroderma. This painless transdermal MN platform can be applied to a variety of bioactive agents including peptide and protein drugs requiring prolonged drug activity.