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"I can remember when the first pulsars were discovered. I was able to go and sit down and listen to graduate students talking about what their theories, to explain what pulsars really were."
- Vernor Vinge
 |
| Transdermal Drug Capsule | ||
| A drug capsule that delivers medication by being placed on the skin. |
Director Jason Dill has had a difficult day; he would like to calm down immediately.
| "Dog eat dog," he said aloud...
Jason Dill put down the form. He opened a drawer of his desk and got out a flat metal tin; from it he took a capsule which he placed against his wrist. At once the capsule dissolved through the dermal layers; he felt it go into his body, passing into his blood stream to begin work without delay. A tranquilizer... one of the newest ones in the long, long series. |
| Technovelgy from Vulcan's Hammer,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Ace Books in 1956 Additional resources -
|
This is a very early science-fictional use of this concept. As far as I can find out, the first transdermal drug patches were not commercially available until 1979 (for self-administration of scopolamine for motion sickness). In the abstract, you might consider such old technologies as the "plaster" or poultice placed against the skin (like the iconic mustard plaster), as the earliest example of a transdermal patch. However, it doesn't appear that they are placed against the skin to introduce helpful components in to the body by absorption through the skin; this development might have proceeded in the Sixties. See Transdermal patches: history, development and pharmacology for more information.
Modern-day (real-life) transdermal drug delivery patches offer significant advantages:
Compare to the dermadisk from Neuromancer (1984) by Philip K. Dick.
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Tech news articles related to Vulcan's Hammer
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Transdermal Drug Capsule-related
news articles:
- Nanopatch Delivers Vaccines
- Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
| 3D Printed Organs From Space |
| Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor |
| NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI) |
| MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User |
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