- The device is implanted in the abdomen and is smaller than a pencil
- Researchers hope it can communicate wirelessly with smartphones
- READ MORE: Potential breakthrough against cancer thanks to ‘revolutionary’ pill
Scientists are developing an implant smaller than a pencil that they hope will cure cancer in just 60 days.
Researchers from seven states led by Rice University in Houston, Texas, have developed a three-inch implantable device that functions as both a cancer detection system and a drug delivery system.
Doctors determine which medications a patient needs, then place them in the device to be released into their body.
The Hybrid Advanced Molecular Manufacturing Regulator – or HAMMR – is packed with sensors that monitor rapidly mutating cancer cells and adjust the release of immunotherapy drugs based on the patient’s response.
“This type of ‘closed-loop therapy’ has been used to manage diabetes, where you have a glucometer that constantly communicates with an insulin pump. But for cancer immunotherapy, it’s revolutionary,” said bioengineer Omid Veiseh, the team’s principal investigator.
The new device is one of several new cancer treatment technologies under development. More recently, a first study revealed that a “revolutionary” pill could eradicate all types of solid tumors.
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses substances made by the body or in a laboratory to strengthen the immune system in hopes that the body will fight cancer naturally.
Researchers from seven states led by Rice University in Houston, Texas, have developed a three-inch implantable device that functions as both a cancer detection system and a drug delivery system.
The camera (photo) is smaller than an adult’s finger
Principal investigators Omid Veiseh (right) and Dr. Amir Jazaeri in Veiseh’s Rice University laboratory in August 2023
Researchers say this first-of-its-kind technology will be able to improve immunotherapy outcomes for hard-to-treat cancers, such as ovarian and pancreatic, and reduce cancer deaths by 50%. in the USA.
Dr. Amir Jazaeri, another lead researcher on the team, said the device will help “understand in real time how our cancer cells are changing so that we can change in parallel.”
A minimally invasive procedure implants the device in the abdomen.
It will then continuously monitor the patient’s cancer and adjust their dose of immunotherapy drugs in real time.
“This device will communicate wirelessly, potentially with a smartphone, and can also be billed externally,” Dr Jazaeri said. KHOU11.
“Basically how your iWatch charges today,” Dr. Vesieh said.
The implant would allow doctors to respond to any changes in the cancer much more quickly than the current system of waiting for test results and developing a new treatment plan, which can take months.
The team recently received funding for a first-phase clinical trial of the implant to treat recurrent ovarian cancer.
Researchers say HAMMR should only be needed for about two months, as they hope to be able to cure a patient’s cancer in 60 days.
Their goal is to test the device on humans within five years.
In Texas alone, more than 130,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year and more than 42,000 people die from the disease each year.
In another potential breakthrough against cancer, brain surgeons earlier this month developed a device the size of a grain of rice that they hope could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of brain cancers mortals.
The 6mm-long gadget is implanted on the surface of tumors, where it delivers drugs into the masses to shrink or kill them.
When implanted in difficult-to-treat brain tumors, the device can deliver several different cancer drugs simultaneously.
It was tested on six patients with glioblastoma, the deadly brain cancer that killed President Joe Biden’s son, Joseph (Beau) Biden III, and Sen. John McCain.
Their main goal was to determine whether the devices could be implanted safely, which they found.
