Sensor To Provide Personalised Drug Delivery

A novel drug sensor that will “personalise” the medication of critically ill patients is being developed thanks to an investment of £322000 (euro 407000) from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board.

Each patient’s unique combination of characteristics such as weight, age and gender affects how drugs perform therapeutically in the body. If clinicians have the appropriate tools to customise a patient’s medication and achieve optimum uptake, patient care will be significantly enhanced.

An industrial–academic team from Cranfield University and Sphere Medical are working on developing a disposable sensor that can measure drug concentration, detect changes as they happen and provide early detection of any faults in the drug delivery system.

Dr Kal Karim, Lecturer in Organic and Computational Chemistry, Cranfield Health, explained, “We will be looking to employ a dedicated researcher on this project, who will use Cranfield’s Molecular Imprinting Polymer technology to detect small drug molecules. This will then be combined with Sphere Medical’s sensors into a fully functional prototype.” The photograph shows a prototype of Sphere’s Proxima system integrated into an arterial line. This system will form the platform onto which the new drug sensor will be incorporated.

Dr Karim said, “We hope that the device will result in new treatment regimes in intensive care medicine, improve therapy, save lives and significantly reduce the cost of care.” The academic team at Cranfield undertaking the research project also includes Professor Sergey Piletsky, Professor of Bio-Organic Polymer Chemistry, Cranfield Health.

The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive nondepartmental public body established by the UK government that has been set up to promote and support research and its exploitation. It is sponsored by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.