Drug delivery

Cancer drugs are getting more effective at killing tumors, but there’s one big problem: many work like a shotgun blast and harm healthy cells as well. Researchers from Georgia Tech have now developed a new way to deliver drugs only to where they need to be, using nanoscale “glass” bottles.

​Hooking our brains up to machines could mean new forms of treatment for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. A new device shows promises in this regard, with an ability to be loaded up with different cartridges depending on the treatment needed and triggered remotely with a smartphone.

​For several years now, we've been hearing about "microneedle patches" that deliver medication less painfully and more safely than hypodermic needles. A new take on the technology may allow them to work even better, by copying the structure of venomous snakes' fangs.

When someone overdoses on opioid drugs, which is happening increasingly often, an injection of naloxone could save their life … if it's administered soon enough. A wearable system that's currently in development is intended to make that happen automatically.

A new drug delivery system has been developed that hides chemotherapy molecules inside fat cells that are quickly eaten up by hungry tumors. The method has been shown to be effective at targeting bone, colon and pancreatic cancers in animals, and human trials are proposed for the near future.

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have demonstrated a prototype of a drug that can release three active ingredients, at different times in sequence. The key to this unusual and useful ointment is artificial DNA, which breaks down at precise intervals.

​Over the past several years, we've heard about a number of implantable devices that regularly dispense medication within the body, doing away with the need for pills or injections. A new one takes things further, as its dosage level can be changed after it's been implanted.

It’s entirely possible that micro-machines could one day be delivering drugs inside the body, with many designs proposed in recent years. The latest comes from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), which gets around under its own power using a system similar to how submarines rise and sink.

An ever-increasing number of research groups are developing tiny robots, capable of performing targeted drug-delivery inside the body. One of the latest such devices incorporates a flapping whale-flukes-like tail, along with wings that fold up or down as needed.

Contraceptives like the Pill are only effective if you remember to take them. In an effort to integrate into the lives of women more seamlessly, researchers at Georgia Tech have developed contraceptive patches that can be attached to jewelry.

​We've seen numerous nano-devices designed for tasks such as delivering medication within the body, and they move in a variety of ways. One of the latest is a tiny four-legged robot, that could actually walk to its target.

Plenty of work has gone into developing an insulin pill as an alternative to injections, but that comes with its own challenges. Now, an MIT team has created a new design for a capsule that houses a microneedle made of insulin, which injects the hormone through the stomach lining.