FDA Reviewing Electronic Drug Patch

NuPathe Inc. passed this week the first regulatory hurdle in bringing to market what it hopes will be one of the first successful drug delivery patches to use disposable electronics. The microcontroller-based Zelrix migraine patch is expected to be available in the U.S. before June 2012 at cost to consumers of less than $10 for a single-use disposable patch.

"We see this as where [drug] patches are going because it allows you to do more things," said Jane Hollingsworth, chief executive of NuPathe. Zelrix is being made by a German contract manufacturer that specializes in drug patches, in part because "their interest is they see this as their future," she said. [Read more]