Here's an update on a Chinese company we pointed to in September. Suzhou Natong Bionanotechnology is developing what the company is calling a Functional MicroArray drug delivery device made out of microneedles. Each 5 mm-square patch contains about 400 tiny needles for drug delivery. As we reported in the microneedle category of our special report on five game-changing drug delivery technologies, the needles are so short that they poke holes in the skin but do not hit nerve endings or blood vessels, making the process painless.
The company won the Silver in the Wall Street Journal's Asian Innovation Awards, which recognize innovations that break with conventional processes in creative ways.
The WSJ quotes Natong founder Bai Xu as saying that he is is receiving more interest from major pharmaceutical and cosmaceutical companies in the U.S., and is also looking to get into the European market. "We will probably have a few deals regarding different products" in the coming year, he told the WSJ.
Right now, though, the company's potentially game-changing technology is at least beginning to change the face of China. A product, LiteClear, is available in China that uses the microneedles to unclog pores and get rid of pimples.
- read the WSJ story