A team of scientists co-led by Northwestern University announced on March 27 the development of a small implantable device containing engineered cells that can continuously produce medicines within the body. The study, which will be published in Device, a journal from Cell Press, describes how this new technology could pave the way for 'living pharmacies' that deliver long-lasting therapies for chronic conditions.
The innovation matters because it could help patients avoid frequent medication doses and injections by enabling stable delivery of several biologic drugs through a single implanted device. This approach may benefit people who need complex treatments involving multiple therapies with different half-lives.
The system, called HOBIT (hybrid oxygenation bioelectronics system for implanted therapy), integrates engineered cells with an oxygen-producing component to keep them alive and functioning under the skin. The researchers reported that when implanted in animal models, HOBIT kept drug-producing cells viable and delivered three different therapeutics—an anti-HIV antibody, a GLP-1-like peptide used for type 2 diabetes treatment, and leptin—over several weeks.
Jonathan Rivnay of Northwestern University said, "This work highlights the broad potential of a fully integrated biohybrid platform for treating disease." He added that maintaining steady levels of multiple biologic drugs is challenging due to their varying half-lives but explained: "Because our implanted 'cell factories' continuously produce these biologics, keeping the cells alive with our oxygenation technology allows us to sustain steady levels multiple different therapeutics at once."
One major challenge has been supplying enough oxygen to densely packed therapeutic cells inside implants. To address this, HOBIT includes an electrochemical generator that produces oxygen directly where needed by splitting water molecules within the device. Rivnay said, "We are producing oxygen directly where the cells need it... Cell densities in HOBIT were roughly six times higher than conventional unoxygenated encapsulation approaches."
In animal tests over 30 days, blood measurements showed sustained levels of all three biologics from devices with active oxygenation while control devices without this feature saw rapid declines in drug levels and cell viability.
Looking ahead, researchers plan to test HOBIT in larger animals and explore its use for specific diseases such as those treatable with transplanted pancreatic cells. Rivnay concluded: "We're beginning to see how bioelectronics and cell therapy can work together in a single platform... Devices like this could eventually act as programmable drug factories inside the body – delivering complex therapies in ways that simply aren't possible today."
