Having trouble keeping all of your medications straight? Your worries could soon be a thing of the past.
Researchers have developed a magnetic implant that is capable of delivering drugs to very small and specific parts of the body. This technology could offer an efficient alternative for those who struggle with a number of different pills or injections on a daily basis.
The device is composed of a silicone sponge reservoir and magnetic iron that is wrapped in a thin membrane. Drugs are loaded into the sponge and the device is surgically implanted into the treatment area.
How does it work?
“You bring a magnet up to the device and [the sponge] deforms, and it spits out a little bit of drug loaded solution into the local tissue area,” said Dr. John Jackson, a researcher scientist the faculty of pharmaceutical sciences.
This device is especially relevant for patients with conditions that may require variable drug dosing and timing. For example, after surgical removal of a tumour, chemotherapy drugs are often administered to eliminate any remaining cancerous tissue. This device could allow physicians to easily alter dosage in response to a patient’s progress.
“That’s the objective,” said Jackson. “To have an on-demand, controlled release system.”
This technology is particularly alluring, as it has the potential to minimize toxic side effects of chemotherapy drugs while improving patient outcomes.
“The advantage of that is that you’re not giving a cytotoxic [toxic to cells] drug intravenously to a patient with all the toxic side effects. If you can locate the device right at the site of action, you can release enough local drug — but if any of that disperses through the bloodstream, it will get diluted so much [that] it won’t cause any toxic side effects to the body,” said Jackson.
There are similar implants currently being developed that are triggered through alternative methods such as temperature, electricity or light. However, it seems that this unique magnetic activation method has multiple advantages.
“It’s completely safe, you can do it remotely and you don’t need power,” said Ali Shademani, a PhD student in the biomedical engineering program and co-author of the paper. “You can still precisely control the dosage that you want to be introduced.”
The device was tested in animal tissue with docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug that is often used for prostate and breast cancers. While this technology is still early in development, it may be a huge asset to healthcare in the future.