Most health-care innovations are developed in high-tech laboratories, but materials scientist Dr. Latchmi Raghunanan created a groundbreaking fertility drug delivery patch from her kitchen counter in Toronto.

As the CEO and chief science officer of Maman Biomedical Inc., Dr. Raghunanan drew on her decade of experience in medical device research and development to tackle a problem she encountered during her own in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey: the numerous injections required during treatment.

“It was obvious that we could solve this problem with the technologies that exist,” she explains, noting that many patients endure multiple daily injections for up to two weeks. “We take the drugs as they exist and reformulate them to go into our microneedle patches, which are painless and go on like a Band-aid, instead of daily injections.”

Maman Biomedical Inc. was founded to address this pressing need in fertility treatments. The company’s innovative approach uses patent-pending microneedle technology, making hormone delivery simpler and less painful for patients undergoing IVF.

While the initial focus is on fertility care, Dr. Raghunanan envisions broader applications for the technology. “The microneedle patches have the potential to revolutionize drug delivery across a range of medical uses,” she says, highlighting the versatility and impact of the innovation.

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