Presumably, they'll supply a new patch with only 1/3 the capacity, forcing patients to pay for a full one?

That's one way to help NHS spending...

Inkjet tattoos, anyone?

And how long before third-party refills are available, containing the medication of your choice? Or perhaps you could just refill it with alcohol and bypass the tedious process of drinking...

I suspect this has more in common with a dot matrix printer.

I was imagining Tattooist's shops with no shaved-headed biker covered in Bulldogs, Union Jacks, and "Mum" under a rose, metal playing in the background, but a hermetically sealed ATM-style unit you simply slot the desired appendage in, and scan the image.

Now THAT would be a development...!

I've got a diabetic friend who will be more than glad to say good bye to needles, great devellopment if they can use it for insulin.

"Hello Mr Doe, I'm Doc Smith, I'm here to apologise for your near-death experience after a colleague loaded the incorrect driver for your new HP transdermal patch. It seems this driver hangs on 'Inject Mode' when you move out of the Hospital WiFi Hotspot..."

Awesome. The Future. Love it.

This could see the worlds tatoo parlours go out of business!

You can print your own T-shirts so why not your own tatoos!

Chris

Now, all we need is for someone to combine the inkjection technology with HP’s inks and we have a DIY tattoo printer.

I'll be first in line for the new HP tattoo attachment for the printer - hours of fun tattooing any logo you like! That way they still resell their own inks.

Alternatively they might use the medicines to print their own theraputic papers - anyone for a smiley?

Finally hi-tech inkjet tatoo possibilities

you could print a tattoo on your arm?

can I be the only one thinking that this may change the art of tattooing some years down the road ?

Should I put my name on the waitinglist for the Skinjet 500 ?

yep, i'd like to add my name to the list of Reg readers that are more interested in using the technology to print pictures on themselves than to use it for medical means and improve peoples lives.

but really, you'd wouldn't want the tattoos to be permenant. if it was just a case of shoving your arm in your SkinJet then why have a tattoo that'll last for several years and fade to a smudgey blue and look really rubbish when you're old and grey. why not have a different, full colour, tattoo every week?

This would be perfect for applying the ultraviolet inks M$ has developed for tagging the hands and heads of it's genuine MCSEs!

So you y'all want tattoos. Ugh! Sounds like you need the medication.

What could be tattooe'd on Paris Hilton, and on what bits?

Yeah right Im gonna trust HP to tattoo me WITHOUT banding :)

I cannot believe that none of the regular vigilantes has spied the true goal of this tool : to snap a behavior-controlling armband on every single human being, technically engineered to react to our very own impulses !

This is yet another weapon in the Race to Control Humanity that our lizard overlords are stealthily implementing. It will facilitate our submission when the time comes to decerebrate us.

We must be on the lookout for the next HP-DermaPatch (TM). It will be the sign that the final war is on the way.

Love it, sounds a great development. As mentioned by Rob above, for injections for insulin this should prove a huge advantage. I know the NHS is currently fumbling around with the varied (and rather iffy) inhaled insulin’s at the moment, and while they have some potential the technology is somewhat lacking with them and are quiet lacking. The patch using tiny needles may seem a bit of a step back, yet if it works more reliably than the inhalers; than I am sure many a diabetic will be very happy to get their hands on it.

It also sounds as though it could be a cheaper technology to implement, which let’s face it is always good news for the cash strapped NHS. Hope it gets the backing it deserves from the big drug companies.

Yes, I'm sure the major drugs companies will want to use this system, but only if they could market it as 'The latest in Pain-Free Medication' and charge about three times the normal price, that would effectively rule it out of the public health services around the world.

Another thought along similar lines, how many companies are currently making "compatible" cartridges at the moment.............

And that is also a great line for something like this also...if it ended up going along the lines of the (ok maybe not due to the number of bad compatibles), of the good compatibles out there. This could be good. Lots of compatibles, insert the drug of your choice from any major drugs supplier (I mean legal here), and get it set up to run along whatever line you need from your doc. And great, this could be an amazing advance over the current lines of patch’s for smokers and hormone replacement...which let’s face it, insulin is, so why not.

But yes, compatibles could be great along the lines of this...even more so in areas of the world where health care may not be cheap. I’m not knowledgeable on how something like diabetics are treated in the depths of Africa for example...if at all. So something “compatible” would be great.

Great for the majority, but, "you'll just feel a little scratch" remains for those allergic to chemicals in ink.

Imagine a hand held device that any fool could program rude words into and then go around after parties tattooing the forheads of passed-out drunk people! Or what if your kid brother goes crazy on your two year old sister and prints Transformer symbols all over her!

Let's leave tattooing to the professionals!