U.S. Develops Remotely Controlled Drug Delivery Microchips for Innovative Treatments

MIT and the university’s microchip company recently announced that the remote-controlled drug delivery microchip that they began researching 15 years ago has achieved success in human experiments for the first time. They implanted microchips in patients with osteoporosis through simple surgery. After a year's examination, they found that the efficacy was the same as that of injection. The success of this experiment is expected to lead a new era of telemedicine. Related papers were published on the "Scientific Translational Medicine" website on February 16.

The chip is a programmable, wireless remote-controlled microchip that can be pre-programmed with a drug dose schedule or remotely controlled through a dedicated radio communication frequency called "medical implant communication device (MICS)". After the chip is implanted in the patient, the daily dose can be managed according to the prescription of the drug. "With this chip, it is possible to really take doses," said Robert Lange, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's David Koch Institute. The school’s Michael Shima said: “Many drugs must strictly adhere to the rules of medication. If patients have to inject themselves, the situation is very troublesome. This technology completely avoids these troubles, and it will be able to fully implement various drug regulations in the future. Some chronic patients benefit more from it."

In January 2011, they conducted a human clinical trial in Denmark. The subjects were 7 women aged 65 to 70 years. The surgical procedure is only 30 minutes and the chip can be stored in the patient for 4 months. The chip used contains 20 doses of teriparatide for the treatment of osteoporosis, sealed in a needle-sized “warehouse”. The lid of the warehouse is a thin layer of platinum-titanium alloy that melts when a tiny current is applied. , release the drugs inside. A year later, when the researchers examined the subject’s bone formation, they found that the efficacy was the same as or better than those of patients who received daily injections.

The chip's current remote control distance is only a few inches, and there is room for further expansion. The paper’s lead author, microchip company director and chief executive officer Robert Farah, said that the chip can be used not only for osteoporosis but also for a variety of other diseases, including cancer and polyploid sclerosis. Greatly changes treatment.