Tunable Applicator for Microneedle‐Based Medical Devices

ABSTRACT This paper introduces a user‐friendly, one‐piece Tunable Applicator (TAPP) designed to improve the performance and usability of microneedle array patches (MAPs) and related microneedle‐based devices. Although MAPs hold significant potential for painless transdermal access for drug delivery, sensing, and fluid sampling purposes, their effectiveness is often limited by reliance on costly or bulky external applicators and complicated by variable user technique. TAPP addresses these challenges with a simple, intuitive, and low‐cost design based on a material‐agnostic mechanism of controlled fracture. This results in a highly adaptable and tunable architecture that allows precise control of force, ensuring reliable skin penetration and consistent engagement of the full microneedle array. Unlike conventional applicators, TAPP can also be manufactured as a built‐in component of the microneedle patch in a truly one‐step process, eliminating post‐fabrication assembly and simplifying manufacturing. Furthermore, the design is readily adaptable for integration with microneedle‐based devices used in sensing and diagnostics, such as health monitoring and interstitial fluid sampling, expanding its utility beyond drug delivery. By combining mechanical simplicity with reliable and repeatable performance, TAPP has the potential to accelerate translation of microneedle‐based technologies from laboratory development to practical, widespread clinical and at‐home use.