A microchip inserted under the skin has been shown for the first time to successfully deliver a bone-loss drug to a small sample of women, according to US-led research published on February 16.
The device may someday allow patients to avoid daily injections of medication and permit doctors to adjust their doses from afar, said the study which appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The technology "gives physicians a real-time connection to their patient's health, and patients are freed from the daily reminder, or burden, of disease," said co-author Robert Langer, a professor of cancer research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The device is about the size of a pacemaker and contains daily doses of medication inside small wells that open up either on a predetermined schedule, or when the chip is given a wireless signal to release the drugs.