little bit of info - note pre-clinical trials at end of...

little bit of info - note pre-clinical trials at end of quote.
quote
"Needle-free Injection System
Norwood Abbey has developed a small hand-held, needle-free, device that delivers medication through the skin. The system uses an extremely fast and powerful pump that fires the drug at the skin with sufficient velocity to penetrate without the use of needles. The drug in the device is contained within a miniature cylinder and piston. The fibers are attached to the piston and when they contract they cause the piston to exert high pressure on the drug. The drug is supplied in single use disposable vials that are inserted into the portable device.

Competitive Advantage
The advantages of this technology include the following:
Low Cost
Simple and easy to manufacture
Provides variable dosing
Silent, since it does not depend on compressed gas to generate the required force
Applications
This device will be developed for single and multiple injections. This technology is expected to be suitable for human and veterinary applications. The first veterinary application is in field testing.
This technology is in development phase.

Micro-needle Based Delivery System
Norwood Abbey, in conjunction with its sponsored research partner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is developing small, sophisticated devices based on microneedle arrays. The insertion of microneedles into the epidermis (the outer layer of skin) is readily possible using needles of a variety of different geometries. The microneedles have the ability to penetrate the skin before the skin deflects significantly thereby allowing drug delivery in vivo. The micro-needle devices are designed to provide controlled drug delivery and sustained levels of therapy, without drug peaks.


Competitive Advantages
The microneedle arrays do not penetrate the skin deep enough to reach nerves, making the system virtually painless and increasing patient compliance. In additional, transdermal delivery of certain drugs can offer advantages over oral and injectable formulations. For example, transdermal delivery of proteins avoids first pass liver degradation. Finally, the microneedle arrays are inexpensive to manufacture.

Applications
The microneedle arrays can be used to deliver biologics, and Norwood expects the delivery system to have almost universal applicability to deliver any drug.
The prototype development has been completed. Norwood and MIT have also completed several preclinical studies.