Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by stiffness and swelling of the joints. Roughly 2.1 million people in the United States are believed tosuffer from RA, nearly half of them being women. There are innumerable forms of treatment available for RA. Microneedlescould possibly act as a tool for the delivery of drugs specific toRA, which may replace conventional forms of treatment producing undesirable effects. Drugs, which may be promising,are gold salts, ketoprofen, methotrexate etc. Prospective benefits of using microneedle delivery for controlled release purposes include reduced pain perception, improved pharmacokinetic and bioavailability profiles and reduced toxicity. This review article throws light on the application of microneedle drug delivery as one of the more promising ways oftreating RA in future. Emphasis should be laid on the research tobe done in this area.