Brought to you as a public service of the Open Spectrum Foundation (Stichting Open Spectrum), Amsterdam - Prague

NEWS

Administering drugs wirelessly

From "Scientists Use Wireless Microchips to Control Drug Release in Vivo" - a press release from MicroCHIPS Inc., dated 13 March:

"Researchers at MicroCHIPS, Inc., have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible, using an implanted, microchip device and wireless technology, to actively control the release of drugs in the body over a prolonged period of time...

"The technology, described in the March 12 online edition of Nature Biotechnology, is unique in its use of wireless signaling, its system of reservoirs allowing precise, efficient delivery of solids, liquids or gels, and its small size...

"[Robert] Langer, Institute Professor at MIT, called the current publication a 'landmark' study. 'One could envision that, some day, many of a patient's drugs could be placed on a chip programmed to release needed doses at precisely the right times,' he said...

"The current study, which used a microprocessor and a power source, demonstrates the feasibility of what [MicroCHIPS' president John Santini] calls 'active' reservoir control. According to Santini, while one important use of reservoirs is to contain drugs for release, reservoirs can also be used to selectively expose biosensors in order to monitor and provide feedback on conditions in a patient's body. Biosensors may one day be interactively paired with drug delivery...

"MicroCHIPS plans to partner with pharmaceutical and medical device companies to identify 'difficult-to-deliver' molecules that would be compatible with reservoir technology and to develop novel biosensors...

"If all goes as planned, 'we could begin human safety trials for passive reservoir systems for drug delivery within three years and for active 'sensing' systems in 3-to-5 years,' Santini said..."

[Wireless: 15 March 2006]