14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announce the development of an implantable drug-delivery chip that can be controlled wirelessly from outside the body. This is the first time such a device is assembled for medical applications.
Thus far, the team has only conducted clinical trials assessing the implants' efficiency for treating a condition called osteoporosis. However, the researchers are convinced that future developments will see the instruments being used to address other diseases as well.
The basis for this achievement was set by MIT professors Robert Langer and Michael Cima about 15 years ago. At the time, they thought about building a microchip that could be implanted in the human body, and then gradually release its cargo of drugs when commanded to do so wirelessly.
Working with collaborators at MicroCHIPS Inc., the MIT group reported this week that the object was finally achieved. Normally, osteoporosis sufferers would have had to get daily injections for each dose of the medicine they need.
With the new implants, the team was able to seal about 20 doses of the drug teriparatide underneath patients' skins. Each dose was stored inside a tiny reservoir, which is sealed by a small cover made out of platinum and titanium.
When a small electrical current is applied to this cover, it melts right away, allowing the chemical to be delivered into the bloodstream in a controlled manner. Additional details of the approach were published in the February 16 online issue of the top journal Science Translational Medicine.
According to Langer, this achievement finally paves the way to telemedicine, a new approach to caring for patients, which can be carried out from a distance. “You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip,” the team co-leader explains.
“You can do remote control delivery, you can do pulsatile drug delivery, and you can deliver multiple drugs,” adds the investigator, who is the David H. Koch Institute professor at the Institute. He says that the clinical trials his team conducted resulted in no side effects.
Applications in cancer and multiple sclerosis therapies may be just around the corner, the team believes. The achievement could be of special benefit to those suffering from chronic diseases, where regular pain management is absolutely necessary.
“Compliance is very important in a lot of drug regimens, and it can be very difficult to get patients to accept a drug regimen where they have to give themselves injections. This avoids the compliance issue completely,” concludes Cima, who is the David H. Koch professor of engineering at MIT.