The role of implanted systems in the control of temporal drug delivery.
It is clear from the abundance of research and published data, temporal drug delivery has utility across all medical disciplines. Though some applications are better understood than others in terms of temporal characterizations of immunology, neurohumoral control, cytokinetics, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, the disease processes, etc., increasing resources and energy will be invested into conquering the chronobiological realm of each. The payoff is more effective and better quality medicine. Technology will play an important role in these endeavors and though implanted devices have already begun to contribute, the technology is still in infancy. Efforts must concentrate on increasing flexibility of the systems, on improving biocompatibility, and expanding the list of compounds compatible with components of implanted systems.
Langevin
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Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55432-3576.
D006801:Humans; D015918:Infusion Pumps, Implantable