Dry powder injection on chip.

To match the current speed of drug development there is a serious requirement for the pharmaceutical industry to upgrade powder handling processes. Miniaturization is a key concept especially in the early stages of drug development when only small amounts of the drug compound are available. This paper shows for the first time the application of miniaturization through chip technology for dry powder handling. Two methods to separate and transport minute amounts of dry powder particles on chip are described. Both techniques could be employed in small scale mixing devices, which depend on reliable particle feeding systems to substitute balances and the time consuming weighing process.