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Tiny Crystals Could Reduce Injections and Pain for Drugs Like Contraceptives

Learn more about a new approach to drug delivery, which could cut the frequency and pain of long-lasting injections through tiny crystals of drugs.

BySam Walters
Image Credit: Nata Bene/Shutterstock

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Thanks to an innovative "depot” injection approach from a team at MIT, long-lasting shots could become a lot less painful. Involving the injection of tiny, drug-delivering crystals suspended within a solvent, the team’s method could deliver drugs with thinner needles, fewer injections, and a lot less pain overall.

Describing the approach in a study in Nature Chemical Engineering, the team says that the method could work with contraceptives and other drugs that are taken consistently over time.

“We showed that we can have very controlled, sustained delivery, likely for multiple months and even years through a small needle,” said Giovanni Traverso, the senior study author and a mechanical engineering professor at MIT, according to a press release.

Read More: Fear of Needles Is a Real Thing. Here's How to Overcome It

A depot injection is a type of shot that releases a drug slowly and steadily over time. While other ...

  • Sam Walters

    Sam Walters is the associate editor at Discover Magazine who writes and edits articles covering topics like archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution, and manages a few print magazine sections.

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