Wireless Microchip Delivers Bone Drug
Could one day replace daily injection for osteoporosis patients
February 17, 2012
The drug delivery device (on right) next to an everyday computer memory stick.
Researchers have tested an implantable device that releases daily dosages of osteoporosis medicine.
The device may one day be a cost-effective alternative to daily injections, and could help manage other diseases as well.
Osteoporosis is a common condition of older people, especially women, in which bones become weak and brittle, and can break easily.
There are medicines to treat osteoporosis. One kind, known as parathyroid hormone, requires daily injections for two years.
But having to give yourself a shot every day, plus the lack of tangible improvement in the patient's condition, results in what researchers call poor compliance.
"And as a result, only 25 percent of the patients will go through the entire 24 months of treatment," says Robert Farra, president of MicroCHIPS, a medical device maker that developed the implantable drug delivery system.
It's only a few centimeters long, and includes up to 365 tiny compartments, each with a single dose of medicine. At the beginning of treatment, the device is inserted under the patient's skin.
"For osteoporosis, the physician will program the device, and the device has the ability to release a dose at a given time, every single day. For other diseases, where the physician may want to alter the dosing schedule, they will have the ability to wirelessly reprogram that dosing schedule," Farra says.
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