Microneedles – A Novel Approach to Drug Delivery: A Review

: Drug delivery through the skin provides various benefits which includes, avoiding the first-pass metabolism in the liver, which maintain the steady plasma level concentration, ensuring safety, and improve the patient compliances as compared to other dosage form like oral and parentals. A major difficulty in the drug delivery through the skin is that only limited number of drugs with suitable physical and chemical properties which can passively pass through the skin's layers to reach the required therapeutic levels. Various approaches have been developed to enhanced the drug penetration through the skin. Among which microneedles are an approach which increase the rate of drug delivery through the skin, which are tiny structures which help to increase the range of drugs that can be delivered through or into the skin. These microneedles are typically between 0.025 to 2 millimetre in length. This review covers the different materials used to make microneedles, which includes silicon, stainless steel, and various polymers, as well as the ways they are made and their applications for skin drug delivery. The review also discusses the role of these microneedles in drug delivery, vaccine administration, cancer therapy and cosmetic applications. But there are still challenges like maintaining steady drug release, ensuring effectiveness, making the process cost-efficient, and producing microneedles on a large scale. It also explores the potential impact of microneedles on the future of drug delivery, vaccines, and cosmetics.