Precision Microneedle Molds for Research and Development

Precision microneedle molds.
Supporting your journey from research to product development.

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About MicronCube

MicronCube develops microneedle solutions for research and pharmaceutical R&D.

Built on over a decade of microneedle research, we empower research and pharmaceutical innovation, helping turn new ideas into better microneedle-enabled drug delivery technologies.

Challenges to address

The limits of conventional microneedle molding

Dissolving microneedle patches are made by filling mold cavities with a drug formulation, followed by drying. Conventional mold designs, however, can lead to inefficient filling and formulation loss.

Watch the microneedle patch form on the mold as it dries.(Top view)

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Time-lapse optical microscopy captures the patch-drying process from above.
A flat-surface mold was filled with Allura Red (20 μg, model compound),
polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), sucrose, and other excipients (220 μg total), then dried at <20% RH.
Results may vary with formulation, concentration and drying conditions.

CHECK POINT

What limits drug loading in conventional flat-surface molds?

Drug distribution in conventional microneedle molding

Uneven drug distribution

Marangoni flow and surface tension drive liquid toward the edges, leaving unequal amounts in individual needles.

Drug loss from sidewall pooling

Sharp corners promote pooling at patch edges, resulting in substantial formulation loss from the sidewalls.

Limited drug loading in MNs

With a concentrated drug solution, only ~10% of the drug volume is in the needles (confocal 3D reconstruction).

30–70% of total drug in the sidewall

Site 1

Site 2

Microneedles: <10% of total volume

Baseplates: ~50% of total volume

Sidewalls: ~45% of total volume

With one-step microneedle patch fabrication, only about 10% of the active ingredient was recovered in the microneedles.*

*Vander Straeten, A., et al. (2023). A microneedle vaccine printer for thermostable COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Nature Biotechnology.

These issues can raise production costs, reduce drug utilization and affect delivery consistency—challenges for microneedle R&D, regulatory approval and manufacturing.

How have these issues been addressed?

Approaches used in research and industry include:

Removing the drug-containing layer at the patch edges.
Filling only the needle cavities through controlled dispensing: removing excess solution outside the needles, or dispensing very small volumes into each cavity.
Using mold-free fabrication methods, such as drawing lithography.

These approaches can add process complexity
or require specialized equipment.

Why MicronCube?

A solution inspired by nature

MicronCube developed UniCaptiX™ technology, inspired by the microstructure of rose petals, to address key challenges of conventional microneedle molding.

The mold architecture guides the drug formulation toward the microneedle cavities while maintaining liquid continuity between cavities, thereby promoting more uniform filling across microneedle array.

Conventional
Flat-surface mold

UniCaptiX™ technology
applied mold

Microneedle mold architecture with UniCaptiX technology

Rose-petal surface microstructure inspiring UniCaptiX mold design

Substantial drug loss outside the MNs array
and uneven loading across the array.

A bioinspired structure can improve drug loading efficiency
and promotes uniform loading across MN array.

Conventional mold

UniCaptiX™ mold

Cumulative drug release*
(% of total drug content)

17%

100%

UniCaptiX™

Technology

Explore the design behind UniCaptiX™ technology.

Bioinspired surface geometry for microneedle mold filling

Controlled surface wetting of the microneedle mold

Fluid continuity between neighboring microneedle cavities

Fluid continuity between cavities
promotes more uniform filling across the array

Bioinspired surface geometry promotes
formulation retention around MN cavities

Controlled wetting helps
reduce sidewall pooling

생체 모방 기술로 약액이 균일하고, 효율적으로 채워지는 똑똑한 몰드

MicronCube는 첨단 마이크로니들 몰드 플랫폼을 기반으로,

당신의 혁신적인 아이디어가 성과로 이어질 수 있도록 함께하겠습니다.

UniCaptiX™
Uniform & efficient

Precise, consistent
microneedle geometry

Your design.
Your custom mold.

Bioinspired mold design minimizes costly drug loss and simplifies patch fabrication using standard laboratory equipment.

Reproducible templates with tip radii <10 μm and
needle dimensions within ±10% of specifications

Tailor needle shape, width, height and spacing to your needs, with or without UniCaptiX™ technology.

기존 몰드와 차이를 눈으로 직접 비교해보세요

Molds differed in geometry but were otherwise prepared using the same method.
Time-lapse videos show drying under identical formulation, concentration, and volume conditions.
Both used the same PVA/sucrose formulation with red dye as a model compound.
Drug distribution depends on formulation, concentration and drying conditions. Scale bar: 2 mm.
Representative results shown for demonstration purposes.

Comparative mold performance

(In vitro drug release study using DNA-loaded MN patches)

Microneedle patches were prepared using each mold under identical manufacturing conditions.
*Values represent plateau-phase drug release as a percentage of total drug content.
Performance may vary with formulation, manufacturing conditions and other factors.
Results are representative of the tested conditions with the M12U microneedle mold.

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기본 재생 속도

Top-view comparison of two molds during formulation drying.
Red indicates the drug-containing formulation.