| abstract |
The present invention relates to efficient devices for administration of pharmaceutical agents into the skin of the human body. In particular the present invention provides devices for vaccination into the skin. The present invention provides a pharmaceutical agent delivery device having skin-piercing portion comprising a solid reservoir medium containing the pharmaceutical agent, wherein the reservoir medium is coated onto the skin piercing portion. alternatively, the skin piercing portion may consist of the solid pharmaceutical agent reservoir medium. The pharmaceutical delivery devices are proportioned such that agent is delivered into defined layers of the skin, and preferred delivery devices comprise skin-piercing portions that deliver the pharmaceutical agent into the epithelium or the dermis. Preferred reservoir media comprise sugars, and in particular stabilising sugars that forms a glass such as lactose, raffinose, trehalose or sucrose. Furthermore, vaccine delivery devices for administration of vaccines into the skin are provided, methods of their manufacture, and their use in medicine. |