A portable and programmable iontophoresis device for transdermal drug delivery and transdermal extraction

Iontophoresis for transdermal drug delivery or for non-invasive monitoring of patients could allow a new generation of medical devices to be developed for low-cost healthcare. The existing iontophoresis systems today are bulky, expensive or non-programmable. Therefore, a miniature, low-cost and programmable device was developed and evaluated. A circuit is described herein which provides a variety of waveforms (DC, pulsed DC, bipolar DC and pulsed bipolar DC) of current for iontophoresis. Evaluation showed that this device provides for precise regulation of the magnitude and waveform of a current over a wide range of impedance, important for in vivo use. A digital meter is included which allows continuous monitoring of current