Research Projects

Scabies is one of the commonest dermatological diseases that is considered as one of the global health burdens and pose a significant public health problem even in developed countries. Current treatment strategies to control scabies with topical application and systemic administration of medication are found insufficient. This demands an urgent action for developing advanced and better treatment strategies to address and control this neglected tropical disease. Scabies mite burrows into the upper layer of the skin where it lives and lays its eggs and manifests as intense itching with various severities of skin lesions. Controlling scabies thus involves killing not just the mites, but also destroying the eggs. Since both the mites and the eggs are found in the dermis, delivery of drugs (acaricides) using dissolving microneedles into the dermis will effectively control parasitic dermatitis, with minimal drug use. The acaricide loaded dissolving microneedles incorporated in the patch will deliver the acaricide to the dermis, kill the mites and deactivate the mite-eggs in the burrows, thus preventing/controlling the recurrence of the condition. This treatment strategy using patches will avoid systemic drug administration and add to affordability. The patch for the proposed application would be designed with a matrix of solid dissolvable microneedles ( 300 microns long) integrated on a flexible backing and would cover an approximate area of 6 square cm. Drugs/acaricides loaded in the microneedles will be eluted to the dermis upon fixing the patch over the scabies effected skin. The flexible backing is designed taking into consideration the larger areas of scabies infested skin and adaptability to any kind of contours. The teams involved in the study have adequate expertise in specific domains of fabrication of microneedle devices, in vitro evaluations and veterinary clinical research. This collaboration will share the activities of the project in fabrication of solid microneedles, physico-chemical characterization, drug loading and in vitro drug release study followed by studies in skin disease animal model. The study will be completed with dermatopharmacokinetic studies which will generate data for further progress towards future clinical applications. It is expected that the microneedle technology will be an appropriate solution in India for the complete removal of scabies. This will advance the healthcare approach in our country to use the existing know how in management of disease with a new technological approach in delivering the drugs. The outcome of the project will be applicable not only to scabies but also to many other cutaneous diseases in humans or animals. This project is first of its kind that a viable and affordable drug delivery device is developed and evaluated. It is feasible for mass production of this device in very economical way and will be useful for mass application.