Joseph Brean National Post

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

A Japanese medical company says it has built a prototype of the world's thinnest hypodermic needle, which at just 0.2 millimetres wide can slide into skin with almost no pain.

A spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Terumo Co. said the company expects to have a commercially viable model ready in one or two years.

Thinner needles are "less invasive, both physically and psychologically," said Joan Erickson, a nurse educator who works with diabetics in British Columbia. "The bigger the needle, the bigger the hole is what it boils down to ... smaller's better."

The newly designed needle is just two-thirds as wide as the current smallest model, the 0.3mm-wide "30-gauge" needle.

It has been adopted as the needle of choice for diabetics, many of whom have to inject themselves four times daily with insulin, said Ms. Erickson.

"A more fine needle will excite fewer pain receptors in the skin and will cause less tissue damage and will cause less pain," said Dr. Patrick McGrath, a specialist in pediatric pain at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Nevertheless, many children are afraid of needles no matter what they feel like.

"The actual physical pain is an issue, but it's not the only issue," he said.

"The fear of the needle is also very important."

For diabetics, to whom the new needle will be most actively marketed, a less painful injection will make the insulin injection and blood-monitoring regime less distressing, which will probably also make it more easily and reliably followed, said Alexis Mantell of the Canadian Diabetes Association.

More than two million Canadians have diabetes, of whom 10% are afflicted with type 1, which can require injections of insulin four or five times daily. And while those with type 2 do not usually inject insulin, they usually have to test their blood-glucose levels with a pin prick up to eight times daily.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens when they [Terumo Co.] get their testing done with it, because some of the longer-acting insulins have much larger molecules [that may be impeded in a narrow needle]," Ms. Erickson said.

After years of producing insulin in pigs, pharmaceutical firms have developed ways to synthesize the hormone, which is a cluster of amino acids. Newer versions involve molecules bunched together so that they will break away and release in the body over time, making its regulation of glucose levels more stable, Ms. Erickson said.

The company's stock rose about 3.5% after the announcement.

-- Anonymous, December 17, 2002