Have you ever forgotten to take your daily meds? Well you are
not alone. Studies shows about 50 percent of patients do not
take their drugs as prescribed. Researchers are hoping to be
able to change that. What if you could take these or even all of
this and put it on this? "It is possible that each of those
containers can have a different drug in them," says Michael
Cima, PhD, a MIT Professor of Engineering. MIT's Doctor Michael
Cima helped create the first pharmacy on a chip. It can be
programmed wirelessly to release medication from tiny
reservoirs. Osteoporosis patients, who have to inject themselves
with bone growth drugs every day, were the first to test it.
"This was implanted just below the beltline underneath the
skin," explains Dr. Cima. A month long study showed the implant
delivered the drug comparable to the patients' usual daily
injection with no adverse side effects. In another MIT lab, Carl
Schoellhammer is testing high and low frequency ultrasound as a
way to painlessly deliver drugs through t