Methods and systems for delivering drugs through skin of a body

A transdermal permeant delivery system for delivery of at least one permeant into a tissue membrane of a subject, comprising:

• a) a substrate having an upper substrate surface and defining a poration area, the substrate comprising a filament array having a plurality of filaments that are disposed in the poration area, wherein each filament is capable of conductively delivering thermal energy via direct contact to the tissue membrane to form a plurality of micropores in a micropore area of the tissue membrane that is in the range of 1% to 20% of the poration area;
• b) an applicator electrically connected to the filament array and configured to supply a controlled amount of electrical energy to the filaments in order to create the plurality of micropores in the micropore area of the tissue membrane by heating the filaments;
• and
• c) a patch configured for application on the micropore area and for releasably containing the at least one permeant, the patch comprising a matrix having a water-holding capacity that is less than 10 mg cm2 and the at least one permeant dispersed in the matrix, wherein the water-holding capacity is the maximum amount of moisture the matrix can hold per unit area (cm2) of the matrix.