Microchip 'could do away with pills'

Scientists in the United States have developed a new way of taking medicines which could improve the effectiveness of some treatments

Writing in the journal Nature Materials they describe a drug-containing microchip which can be implanted in the body.

This then releases the medication slowly so the patient no longer has to take any pills.

Most drugs are still taken orally - but this has drawbacks, the biggest one being human error.

Simply forgetting to take your medicine can seriously affect how well a medicine works.

So this new microchip, which is just over a centimetre in length, could provide a way of delivering exactly the right dose at exactly the right time, therefore making the drug work as well as possible.

The chip's surface is covered in little grooves, where drugs can be loaded.

It is then covered with different types of polymer which slowly biodegrade releasing each dose at a different time.

This type of drug delivery could be very useful for patients who have to take many different tablets at specific times each day.

It could also help patients suffering from dementia who cannot remember when to take their drugs.

So far the researchers have tested the chip in the lab with the anti-clotting agent heparin.

They found that just one chip can be used for up to 140 days.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/h...205800.stm

Something like that would be great.

Thanks katt ... you've just reminded me to take my medication!