The First,
Core
Technology
DEN, the world’s first microneedle manufacturing technology!
Drug delivery system
The limitations of conventional drug
delivery systems
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770 million people suffering from injection phobia
While it is usually possible to deliver biological drug substances by injection, more than 10 percent of the world’s population experience difficulties with their medical treatment because they suffer from injection phobia.
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6.6 billion won Annual cost of
vaccine distributionVaccines and biological drugs incur high distribution costs due to the need to refrigerate or freeze them and hence cannot be supplied to underdeveloped countries seamlessly due to the poor transportation infrastructure.
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1.3 million people killed/year
Needles contaminated with another patient’s blood are the most dangerous form of medical waste as 1.3 million people are killed each year due to infection by a contaminated syringe.


A new concept of drug delivery system that overcomes the limitations of conventional transdermal delivery
Since this delivery system does not involve passing a drug through the gastrointestinal tract, it can be administered irrespective of pH, enzymes, foods, or gastrointestinal tract movements that affect drug absorption. It has other advantages of being simple to use and enabling long-term, continuous administration as well as easy control of blood concentration.
Jan D. Bos and Marcus M. H. M. Meinardi et al. Exp. Dermatol, 9. (2000) 165-169)
Patch-type painless injectionDissolving
microneedle
A dissolving microneedle patch is a method to deliver drugs effectively by penetrating the skin with a needle structure as thin as mosquito's sting. The microneedle patch is a new concept of drug delivery system, also called a patch-type painless injection, that combines the simplicity of a patch with the efficient drug delivery of an injection.
Features of the microneedle
- Solidifying agent
- Delivery of
polymer materials - Storage at room temperature and convenient distribution
The soluble microneedle can contain various active ingredients such as DNA, vitamins, hormones and peptides. The solidified active ingredients are delivered to the body by a microneedle that penetrates the skin barrier to maximize the effect.
Advantages of the dissolving microneedle
- Convenient use
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- Convenient portability
- Can be used regardless of the patient's diet
- Administration is not constrained by the patient's condition
- Low side effects
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- Reduced gastrointestinal side effects from oral administration
- Prevention of secondary infection by injection
- Painless formulation form
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- Painless patch by penetrating skin
- Can be used to treat people with needle phobia
- Ease of use for children and senior citizens
Manufactured within 5 minutes
without heatingDEN manufacturing technology
Raphas’ DEN technology makes it possible to manufacture microneedles
without loss or deformation of the active ingredients
Raphas has pioneered a unique DEN (Droplet Extension) technology.
DEN manufacturing process
Droplets of active ingredients are dropped on to a patch, and the patch is put in contact with an opposite patch and extended to form the microneedle. It is then solidified by blowing, separated, and manufactured into two microneedle patches, one on top and the other underneath it, simultaneously.
Compared to the manufacturing by molding of rival companies, Raphas’ unique process is simple and can be mass produced easily to load bio drugs on the microneedle patch.


Advantages of
DEN manufacturing technology
-
Manufacturing time
Less than
5 minutes' - Heating process Not required
-
Fixed amount
dispensing Possible -
Dispensing
capacity ~5mg
- Application process Easy-to-change
- Permeability High
- Patent protection Until 2033
Applicability of microneedle technology
