Pixel-based drug release system: Achieving accurate dosage and prolonged activity for personalized medicine

Abstract

We have developed a pixel-based drug release system that consists of several miniature drug cartridges capable of releasing accurate dosages and maintaining the drug within a therapeutic window. To achieve the goal of personalized medicine that takes into account targeted dosages, single or multiple miniature cartridges can be used to release the drug. Moreover, a release cascade with individual pixels in a time-lag fashion can maintain the drug within the therapeutic window while prolonging its duration of activity. For high quality, dosage control, and precise administration, the amount of drug released from each miniature cartridge needs to be predicted accurately. As such, the total released amount over a specific time and the number of involved miniature cartridges can be optimized. We established a model based on analogizing our voltage-triggered drug release system to capacitors, and mathematically determined the amount of release from every miniature cartridge. The model predicted that the procedure can be fitted using an exponential function. The characteristic time for the exponential fit was used to derive the predicting formula to be calibrated for each drug. We have shown that after calibration, the release of each miniature cartridge with different drugs and various initial loads can be predicted; therefore, a dosage release can be achieved based on each patient's need.