Silicon ChipDrugDelivery
An emerging technology that interests me is the innovation of implanted semiconductor chips used to deliver pharmaceuticals. Bob Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor, and John Santini, founder of MicroCHIPS, Inc., are pioneering this technology. MicroCHIPS, Inc. is a semiconductor start-up that is designing chip-based drug-delivery technology. The device is made out of titanium and is about two-thirds the size of a standard pacemaker and would be implanted into the patients abdomen in a painless outpatient procedure. The silicon chip can contain thousands of drug storage areas, each being sealed with a thin gold membrane. To activate the device, a small electric voltage is applied which dissolves the gold membrane and allows the drug to be diffused into the tissue. The initial target market for this device is in the large-molecular protein drugs, steroids, and hormones. When considering an emerging technology there are five perceived attributes which should be analyzed to see the impact, or acceptance, of this new innovation: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. These characteristics of any new innovation help determine the success or failure and give us insight in where things went right or wrong.