Implantable device delivers drugs straight to the heart
Device can deliver drugs, proteins and stem cells directly to diseased tissue
- Date:
- June 11, 2018
- Source:
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Summary:
- A refillable, implantable device, sits directly on the heart and delivers drugs and other therapies to treat the after-effects of a heart attack.
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An international team of researchers, led by Harvard University, have developed a refillable, implantable device, which sits directly on the heart and can deliver drugs and other therapies to treat the aftereffects of a heart attack.
The device, dubbed Therepi, is a small patch that is sutured onto the heart. The patch contains a sponge-like biomaterial that holds and releases therapies through the permeable surface of the device. The biomaterial can be connected to a port or pump outside the body when it needs to be refilled. In a pre-clinical study, the researchers demonstrated that Therepi can increase heart function for more than four weeks when stem cells are repeatedly delivered to the reservoir.
Residual scarring after a heart attack can lead to heart failure. Different therapies, including drugs, proteins and stem cells, could treat scarring but these treatments struggle to reach or stay at their intended target and often require multiple doses to work. This device solves for those challenges by allowing localized, replenishable, tunable therapy delivery. It paves the way for other devices to deliver multiple courses of therapies directly to diseased tissue.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- William Whyte, Ellen T. Roche, Claudia E. Varela, Keegan Mendez, Shahrin Islam, Hugh O’Neill, Fiona Weafer, Reyhaneh Neghabat Shirazi, James C. Weaver, Nikolay V. Vasilyev, Peter E. McHugh, Bruce Murphy, Garry P. Duffy, Conor J. Walsh, David J. Mooney. Sustained release of targeted cardiac therapy with a replenishable implanted epicardial reservoir. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2018; 2 (6): 416 DOI: 10.1038/s41551-018-0247-5
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