Microchip for drug delivery

Abstract

Controlled-release drug delivery systems have many applications, including treatments for hormone deficiencies and chronic pain. A biodegradable device that could provide multi-dose drug delivery would be advantageous for long-term treatment of conditions requiring pulsatile drug release. Novel drug delivery and biosensing devices have the potential to increase the efficacy of drug therapy by providing physicians and patients the ability to pre- cisely control key therapy parameters. Such “intelligent” systems can enable control of dose amount and the time, rate, and location of drug delivery. Microchip drug delivery system is the most wonderful system of delivering the drug for a great span of time without the intervention of the patient to whom it is fixed. It consists of varied num- ber of sockets containing drug (generally ranging from 50-300) which release the drug at the fixed intervals each at a time. Microchips have developed its core technology for drug delivery by hermetically sealing small quantities of drug in the micro reservoirs, and releasing that drug on schedule or demand. In drug delivery, there are several fundamental challenges: Long-term storage and protection of the compound, Appropriate delivery (i.e., timing and pharmacokinetics), Release of precise amounts of a compound at desired interval Compliance to prescribed therapy.