Painless Laser Epidermal System (aka P.L.E.A.S.E.), a new drug delivery system that puts meds into your body by shooting you with lasers. Pew pew, indeed.
Created by Pantec Biosolutions AG, the transdermal drug delivery method works by blasting your skin with lasers to create micropores where medication can be absorbed. The process is touted to be completely painless for all parties involved (both the patient and the doctor), unless somebody mistakenly arms the laser with deadly force and films the ordeal with the cellphone. That should become my favorite YouTube video ever… for the next fifteen minutes anyway.
P.L.E.A.S.E. uses a handheld device to deliver the payload, which the operator controls via an integrated touchscreen interface. The lasers will only blast through the outer layer of skin, right before the dermis, so it won’t puncture any nerves or blood vessels. It uses strictly short pulses to avoid thermal damage, with variable laser deflection (for making multiple micropores in an array) and very accurate shooting.
P.L.E.A.S.E.® Private, currently in development as a device for use in combination with patch technologies for large molecule drug delivery. For infertility therapy and other applications:
- Device for use at home, class 1 laser
- Easy to use by patients
- First generation has CE-mark
P.L.E.A.S.E.®, which stands for Precise Laser EpidermAl SystEm, has an extendable treatment range for various applications including skin preparation to enable patch-mediated transdermal delivery of large molecule proteins, intradermal and epidermal clinical interventions and laser treatments in aesthetic dermatology. The platform is the basis for several laser products including:
P.L.E.A.S.E.® revolutionises the mid-infrared laser ablation technology field through the use of several unique features that set it apart from existing systems.
Whereas currently marketed 3000 nm range lasers operate in wide area ablation mode, P.L.E.A.S.E.® uses a laser scanner to create an array of micropores in a predefined area.The system is programmed by a simple graphical user interface to generate from 1 to 5000 pores, thus controlling the dose delivered from the subsequently applied drug patch. The unit functions with a predetermined set of operating parameters (pulse width, fluence (energy density) and repetition rate) to guarantee precise, fast, convenient microporation without carbonisation and thermal damage of the surrounding tissue.
