New Pump Created for Microneedle Drug-Delivery Patch

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

[caption id="attachment_17323" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Babak Ziaie, a professor at Purdue University shows a new type of pump for drug-delivery patches that might use arrays of microneedles to deliver a wider range of medications than now possible with conventional patches. Image source: Mark Simons/Purdue University "][/caption] Researchers at Purdue University have developed ...

Magnet Nanoparticles Guide Drugs to Targets in the Body

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed magnetic nanoparticles that can be directed to metallic implants such as coronary stents and artificial knee and hip joints. Using this strategy, drugs could be delivered to targeted areas in the body to dissolve blood clots in the arteries or reduce inflammation ...

New Technique Allows Injections into Individual Cells

Monday, August 9th, 2010

[caption id="attachment_16617" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="The timed expansion and collapse of two bubbles creates a liquid jet that can penetrate a fine hole in the membrane of a cell. Image courtesy of Alan Stonebraker, American Physical Society"][/caption] Physicists at Duke University have developed a way to produce sharp fluid jets with enough precision ...

Researchers Enlist Nanoburrs to Unclog Arteries

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

From the Wire: Using nanoparticle technology, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University have designed new particles that can cling to damaged artery walls and slowly release medicine, opening a front in the war against cardiovascular disease. Called “nanoburrs,” the particles are coated with tiny protein fragments ...

Nano-Scale Drug-Delivery System Is Good as Gold

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Here is a gilded cage worth checking into. A tiny golden holding cell covered with a "smart" polymer that responds to light—opening to empty its contents when exposed to light and resealing when the light is turned off—has been developed in Younan Xia's laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis, ...

Technology Is the Key to Future Drug Delivery

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

There is growing market potential for the integration of electronic functionality into devices that will improve patient outcomes, says a report issued by Cambridge Consultants. The report, “2020: A New Drug Delivery Landscape,” provides a summary of the proceedings of two workshops that were hosted by Cambridge Consultants and attended by ...

Minimally Invasive Robots Target Tumours

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

The Israeli Institute of Technology has developed a robot that can crawl through human veins to perform precise medical procedures. The ViRob could potentially diagnose and treat artery blockage and cancer, reports E-Health Europe. Researchers at the Technicon Institute have produced a basic prototype of the 1-x-12-mm device. Possible applications include ...

Microfluidics Research Could Benefit Drug-Delivery Devices

Friday, July 17th, 2009

[caption id="attachment_7914" align="alignright" width="375" caption="Focusing surface vibrations onto a water droplet causes it erupt into a narrow jet. The technique could be used in biomedical research or drug-delivery applications."][/caption] Fluid jets are normally formed by forcing a liquid through a small opening—as is exemplified in the case of a syringe. ...

Researchers Develop Drug-Eluting Contact Lens

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

[caption id="attachment_6749" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Captured using scanning electron microscopy, the image above shows an antibacterial agent suspended in a biodegradable polymer that can be inserted into a contact lens. Image courtesy of MIT."][/caption] From the Wire: A startup company known as Eyenovations has developed contact lenses that can deliver drugs to ...

The Popularity of the Insulin Pen

Friday, March 20th, 2009

“The synergies created between pharmaceutical and medical device companies will be a key driver of the insulin pens market in Europe,” notes Kieu Vuong, Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Another significant factor spurring growth is that insulin pens are more compatible with the fast paced modern environment.” The convenience ...

Drug Delivery Research Advances Swimmingly

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

So-called microswimmers developed by researchers in Spain and the United Kingdom may one day precisely deliver cancer drugs and other forms of medication to diseased tissue via blood vessels. A report titled Magnetically Actuated Colloidal Microswimmers that describes the development of these tiny, magnetically controlled particles has been published in ...

The Intelligent Pill Is Now a Reality

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

The convergence of drugs and devices takes another step forward with the iPill from Philips. The iPill is a small capsule that contains a microprocessor, a battery, wireless radio, a pump and a drug reservoir to release medication in a specific area in the digestive tract. It measures acidity with a sensor ...