STTR Phase I: Dendritic Hydrogel Actuators for a Liquid Drug Delivery Patch

This Small Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project develops a small, affordable, lightweight, Liquid Drug Delivery Patch based on the Medipacs Digital Pump platform. The availability of a safe, system integrated, lightweight, and robust fluid pump platform that enables body fluids chemistry sampling, diagnostics, subsequent chemistry adjustment, mixing, and fluid delivery of pharmacologic agents would provide a significant breakthrough in medical care with significant commercialization potential for military and civilian healthcare in pain management, IV therapy, drug and fluid delivery, and insulin therapy. Medipacs will demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost, safe Drug Delivery Patch targeted first for Insulin delivery, and then for more complex drugs, that uses Electro Active Polymer (EAP) hydrogel actuators. These actuators act as pistons in a peristaltic action to pump fluids. The research problem to be addressed in this STTR project is the (1) hydrolytic instability; (2) insufficient reproducibility of actuation; and (3) low response of actuator materials currently under development to investigate the feasibility of Medipacs technology. The research plan is to (1) incorporate dendritic macromolecules as chemical cross linking agents into the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based EAP hydrogel actuators; (2) vary the molecular weight of the PEG component of the hydrogel; and (3) investigate different crosslinking chemistry for the hydrogels. Optimized materials will be miniaturized into components for incorporation into a patch prototype pump. The Medipacs PACS architecture is a platform technology that will enable the next generation of artificial organs and bioreactors.