This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes to develop a cheap and novel needleless injector (NI) that uses a ceramic-based electrokinetic pumping mechanism together with suitable nozzle arrays. The Phase II effort will focus on building numerous prototype pump / nozzle systems and determining the ability to achieve performance adequate for subcutaneous and intramuscular injections. Models for predicting the temporal response of the pump / nozzle systems will also be refined and compared to experimental results.
The commercial application of this project will be for delivering therapeutics such as vaccines and drugs for both human and veterinary markets. The ability to precisely control the injection temporal profile with the proposed device will enable injection site pain and trauma to be significantly reduced, thereby increasing effectiveness of NI drug delivery as well as reducing the probability of cross - contamination.
