In a new paper, scientists from Northwestern University and their collaborators at Rice University and Carnegie Mellon University report on their progress towards developing so-called implantable “living pharmacies.” These are tiny devices containing engineered cells that continuously produce medicines inside the body. Details of the study, which was done in rats, are published in Device in a paper titled “Design of a wireless, fully implantable platform for in-situ oxygenation of encapsulated cell therapies.” The device, which is called the hybrid oxygenation bioelectronics system for implanted therapy or HOBIT, is roughly the size of a folded stick of gum. It integrates engineered cells with oxygen-producing bioelectronics and is designed in such a way that the cells are shielded from the body’s immune system while also receiving oxygen and nutrients needed to keep them alive and producing drugs for several weeks. In the future, these devices could be deployed to treat chronic conditions without requiring patients to carry, inject, or remember to take medications. “This work highlights the broad potential of a fully integrated biohybrid platform for treating disease,” said Jonathan Rivnay, PhD, a professor of biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering at Northwestern and a co-principal investigator of the project. “Traditional biologic drugs often have very different half-lives, so maintaining stable levels of multiple therapies can be challenging. Because our implanted ‘cell factories’ continuously produce these biologics, keeping the cells alive with our oxygenation technology allows us to sustain steady levels [of] multiple different therapeutics at once.” Solving the oxygenation…
