Taking Patient Adherence Out of the Equation

MIT professor of engineering Michael J. Cima, PhD, originally developed the idea for a programmable drug-delivery microchip more than a decade ago, along with colleague Robert Langer, ScD.

Cima says the technology could potentially be useful for delivering any potent drug or even multiple drugs, with the benefit of improving patient compliance.

"Patient compliance is a big issue, especially when we are asking patients to give themselves daily injections of a drug," he tells WebMD. "This could take patient compliance out of the equation."

And because the devices can be controlled remotely, physicians and patients can change dosing as needed.

"You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip," Langer said in a news release.