Drug delivery

Wouldn't it be nice if medication could be injected without using a painful needle, and if that medication could be stored at room temperature? Well, it turns out that MOF-Jet technology may make both things possible.

While there are already a variety of implants that dispense medication within the body, most of them either can't be externally controlled, or they eventually have to be surgically removed. A new one, however, uses light to avoid both problems.

High cholesterol levels are a common and potentially deadly health problem, but a new drug could help more people manage the condition. An experimental pill has been shown to reduce levels of “bad” cholesterol by 60% in a phase 2 clinical trial.

Scientists at MIT have developed bottlebrush-shaped molecules that can carry groups of different cancer drugs in just the right ratios. Tests in mice showed significantly improved outcomes compared to just giving the drugs loose.

In an ideal world, managing diabetes wouldn’t involve insulin injections but just popping a pill. Now a team of scientists has demonstrated an oral tablet that’s self-propelled by chemical “micromotors” to deliver insulin in the colon of rats.

Scientists have found a way to fight cancer with cancer, by genetically engineering cancer cells to release drugs at established tumor sites and stimulating the immune system. Tests in mice showed promise as both a therapy and preventative vaccine.

While islet cell transplants allow some diabetics to forgo daily insulin injections, those people must take immunosuppressive drugs to protect those cells. A new implant, however, could administer the drugs for them, with fewer side effects.

Researchers have developed an implantable pump that can deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into the brain to fight hard-to-treat cancer. In a phase 1b trial, patients were able to undergo the therapy while going about their day-to-day activities.

Probiotic bacteria can’t help improve gut health if they don’t survive to the intestines. Scientists have now kitted out good bugs with protective armor and backpacks loaded with molecules that can help them treat inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

Drugs given to the whole body can be too much of a shotgun approach, damaging cells that aren’t meant to be targeted. A new study has found that cloaking drugs inside red blood cells could help guide powerful but toxic antibiotics to target bacteria.

Technology that delivers insulin orally rather than regular injections would be a game-changing advance in medical science, and a team of MIT scientists has made a breakthrough in this space in the form of a drug capsule with a robotic, tunneling head.

Scientists have recently had success in curing mice of a serious type of pneumonia, using what are described as "microrobots." The bots were actually live algae cells, which carried life-saving medication throughout the rodents' lungs.