As drug therapies become increasingly complex and effective in treating disease, the development of delivery systems has overcome challenges of achieving stable release rates, drug concentrations, and being at a specific site of action. Traditional routes of administration, such as oral capsules or intravenous infusion, encounter problems in maintaining drug concentrations within the therapeutic window, wherein the drug is above a threshold for efficacy but not toxic to the patient. Thus, the design of delivery systems initially focused on attaining a sustained release of drug over a time interval. Much of this work focused on polymers and their material properties that allow for steady-state diffusion of drug out of the polymer or degradation of the polymer itself over time. In addition to sustained release, pulsatile delivery at variable time intervals is necessary for compounds, such as insulin or hormones of the anterior pituitary, for physiological functions that follow either circadian rhythm or a time structure.

Microchips Biotech creates microchip-based implants that are self-contained,  hermetically sealed drug delivery devices. They can be implanted and removed within a doctor's office and can store hundreds of doses that can last months, or even years. The device can be controlled by the patient or the doctor via a wireless remote and can be pre-programmed to release the drug at precise times. The core technology was originated out of labs at MIT and has been clinically validated in human studies delivering Parathyroid hormone (PTH) in osteoporosis patients. It has since been under development for applications in multiple therapeutic indications including osteoporosis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and women’s contraception.

1. https://www.socialtech.org.uk/projects/microchip-based-implant/

2. DareBio Science - https://darebioscience.com/microchips-biotech/

3. Microchips in Medicine - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4914739/

4. Health Insurance Coverage in the United States - https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-267.html

Sierra Briscoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierrabriscoe/