Cambridge device targets hidden temperature problem in drug delivery

MagTemp is a revolutionary single-use, recyclable temperature-control consumable system designed by Julian White, who founded Skalene in 2009. He tells Business Weekly that the consumable architecture is now supported by an international patent family progressing through the US, European and Chinese systems.

MagTemp combines the carrier, heater and thermal reference into one metal-foil element. Skalene develops enabling technologies for drug delivery and diagnostic systems, focusing on practical engineering solutions that improve reliability, reproducibility and real-world performance.

Julian White says: “Temperature is one of the quiet variables in drug delivery and diagnostics. Everyone knows it matters, yet few technologies address it directly, especially in compact or portable systems, where stability is hardest to achieve.

“Across the life sciences, most biological and pharmaceutical processes operate in the sub-50°C range, a region that is both crucial and poorly served by conventional heating approaches. Overshoot, drift and slow settling times remain common in small-volume systems, undermining reproducibility and product reliability.

“MagTemp was created to address this gap directly. Rather than adapting laboratory heaters or adding more sensors, we stepped back and reconsidered how temperature control should work in devices designed for real-world, repeatable use.”

White says that the key insight behind MagTemp is simple: the surface supporting the formulation should also act as both the heater and the thermal reference. Traditionally, controlled inhaler systems require three separate elements: a drug carrier, a heater and a temperature sensor – each with its own wiring, supports and sources of drift. Over time, drug residue and fouling accumulate on plastic or foil surfaces, reducing reliability and increasing maintenance.

MagTemp replaces this assembly with a single, precisely shaped metal-foil consumable, White explains. It serves as the carrier, the heater and the thermal reference all at once. The consumable is single-use, which keeps the system uncontaminated, and because it is simply metal foil, it can be recycled through standard channels.

White says the architecture of MagTemp leads to three immediate benefits:-

• Predictable thermal behaviour
• Reproducibility through a clean surface every time
• Low maintenance, with no build-up or cleaning required

He says the engineering is deliberate rather than exotic, a robust way to simplify the thermal pathway at the point where it matters most. “By unifying the carrier, heater and thermal reference, MagTemp removes many longstanding issues seen in earlier inhaler-based systems. Instead of juggling multiple components and contaminated surfaces, the thermal pathway becomes clean and consistent.”

What began as a temperature-control challenge now touches performance, cost, sustainability and patient monitoring – a rare combination in a field where improvements usually arrive in isolated steps.

Given the importance of the consumable-as-heater architecture, Skalene secured protection early.

A patent family covering the structural integration of heating and thermal reference surfaces within a single-use component is now advancing through the US, European and Chinese patent systems.

White says: “For a small Cambridge company, this global approach allows partners to rely on long-term access and supports consistent deployment across markets.”

MagTemp is designed specifically for:

• Portable and wearable drug-delivery systems
• Point-of-care diagnostics
• Microfluidic and cartridge-based platforms
• Single-use assay systems
• Low-power embedded instruments

In these environments, predictability and cleanliness matter more than brute-force performance, White concludes. He says: “Drug delivery is moving into an era where precision, reproducibility and patient-level data are becoming central to clinical success. Even small thermal deviations can alter release profiles and dosing reliability.

“As devices shrink, this variability becomes harder to control. MagTemp offers a practical route forward: clean, repeatable temperature control in a format that integrates naturally into next-generation device architectures.

“As I often put it: The science wasn’t failing – the temperature was drifting. The answer wasn’t more complexity; it was simplifying the thermal path.”