Wearable technology: New microneedle patch tracks medicine levels in real time

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a wearable microneedle patch that continuously tracks drug concentrations inside the body and wirelessly transmits the data to a smartphone

Published in the journal Device, the study marks a major step forward for personalised medicine by demonstrating a way to monitor therapies in real time.

The problem with snapshot testing

Many critical medications require highly precise dosing. Currently, doctors monitor these drug levels using periodic blood tests. This conventional approach has distinct limitations:

• Snapshot limitations:

  • A standard blood draw only captures drug levels at one specific moment, missing the peaks and valleys of how a drug metabolises over several hours.

• Processing delays:

  • Laboratory analysis takes time, preventing real-time dosage adjustments.

The KAUST team designed their wearable platform to replace these intermittent blood draws with a continuous, dynamic stream of metabolic data.

Tiny needles, big data

The entire wearable device is incredibly compact, weighing just 6.7 grams. It integrates microneedle sensing, electrochemical biosensors, onboard processing electronics, and wireless Bluetooth communication into a single lightweight patch.

To gather data, the device utilises a specialised array of microscopic needles. These microneedles are long enough to painlessly access the interstitial fluid—the liquid layer resting just beneath the skin—without reaching the deeper pain receptors or blood vessels.

Tested on a critical antibiotic

To test the platform, the researchers focused on vancomycin, a powerful antibiotic commonly used to treat severe bacterial infections.

Vancomycin is a notoriously difficult drug to administer because it has a narrow therapeutic window. If concentration levels drop too low, the treatment becomes ineffective and can breed drug-resistant bacteria; if levels spike too high, the drug can cause severe kidney damage or hearing loss.

In laboratory experiments and preclinical animal studies, the KAUST patch successfully monitored changing vancomycin levels in real time over several hours, broadcasting the data directly to a custom smartphone app.

A new frontier for personalised medicine

“This research explores whether future wearable devices could also help us understand how medicines behave inside the body,” said Khaled Nabil Salama, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Bioengineering at KAUST and the study’s lead author. “While the technology is still at an early stage, it demonstrates a new approach to monitoring therapies continuously rather than relying on occasional measurements.”

While the system is currently a proof-of-concept tested with an antibiotic, the engineering team believes the underlying biosensing platform can be adapted to monitor a wide array of other medications that require strict dosage management.

Future development will focus on extending the device’s monitoring duration, enhancing the long-term chemical stability of the sensors, and preparing the platform for human clinical trials.