According to Microchip’s Santini, reservoirs can also be used to selectively expose biosensors to monitor and provide feedback on conditions in a patient's body. Biosensors may one day be interactively paired with drug delivery.

Implanting a medical IC just under the skin would let it measure blood chemicals and release drugs based on what it senses. Such a chip has potential to become an artificial pancreas and a treatment for Type I diabetes. Microchips, Bedford, Mass., will perform clinical trials in 2009 on the glucose-detecting microchip, a device that has shown positive results in animal studies.

The microchip includes proprietary reservoir arrays that can store and protect chemical sensors or potent drugs within the body for long periods. The arrays can be preprogrammed microprocessors, wireless telemetry, or sensor-feedback loops to provide active control of several human conditions. Individual device reservoirs can be opened on demand or to a predetermined schedule to precisely control drug release or sensor activation.

"This development is an important step toward of novel drug delivery system in which small devices filled with potent, therapeutic drugs release medicines into the body as needed," says Microchip President John Santini.

The reservoir-based platform, says the company, can also be used in passive control systems without microprocessors or power sources. Passive systems developed by the company release or expose their contents based on the controlled degradation of polymeric matrices over time.

The company’s IP centers around microreservoir fabrication and control, long-term implantable technologies, and wireless communications as well as in protein and peptide formulations for challenging delivery conditions. The company has 25 issued U.S. patents and 40 more pending, as well as 19 issued international patents and 60 more pending.

The technology combines wireless signaling, reservoirs that allow precise, efficient delivery of solids, liquids or gels, and a small size. It is not expected to replace all pills or other forms of drug delivery. Rather, it will deliver proteins, small molecules, and potent drugs with limited stability, and those that must be delivered in precise doses at specific times. Santini, along with MIT Professors Robert Langer and Michael J. Cima, began work on the concept of intelligent drug delivery devices more than a decade ago.