In the field of medicine implants have been around for many years, for example dental implants.
Presently the pill one pops in one’s mouth to help an ache or to reach the site of an infection has a long journey fraught with perils that can end the journey without reaching the appointed destination. That pill must travel through the stomach, get to the intestines in one piece, and then cross the intestinal wall into circulation. Before it gets to the rest of the body it must also get filtered through the liver.
Pharmaceutical makers coat the pill to protect it through its long arduous journey. This is not always effective and therefore scientists have been seeking other entries to the body beside swallowing a pill. They are exploring the skin, the nose, the lungs and even the intestine as ports of entry. Of course an intravenous shot shortens the journey and protects delivery of the medicine but patients prefer the pill to this alternative medicine.
In the future a microchip could be implanted with the medicine intact without being compromised by the bodies defenses and destruction along the way to its final destination. This chip could be implanted under the skin, in the brain or spinal cord. An electrical charge could release the drug on demand when needed by the patient. This microchip has a gold foil that keeps it intact until the patient needs it.
Implanted microchips are currently being researched by ChipRx of Lexington Kentucky and by MicroChips of Bedford, Massachusetts.
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