MicroCHIPS, a developer of implant systems, has raised $16.5m to fund its lead programs in diabetes and osteoporosis by advancing its platform for monitoring and therapy solutions.
MicroCHIPS intends to conduct initial clinical testing in 2010 to advance its diabetes program. The intelligent in-body system is a long-lived implant designed to sense real-time changes in glucose levels and deliver continuous data to a mobile device. As a result, diabetes can be effectively managed to reduce the acute dangers of low blood sugar and the negative effects of hyperglycemia.
The osteoporosis device, also in advanced development, is designed to automatically deliver precise doses of an anabolic bone building agent without requiring patients to remember to do self-injections, use patches, or take pills on a daily basis.
The company’s technologies can also be applied to therapeutic applications in diabetes and cardiology, where patients require immediate drug therapies while remote from caregivers. These responsive implants are designed to enable rapid delivery of a therapeutic when triggered by the sensing of critical clinical conditions, such as severe hypoglycemia or myocardial infarction.
Robert Langer, the David Koch, institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: “MicroCHIPS is developing personalized health management devices to transform the lives of people who suffer from challenging medical conditions. The platform technologies developed by MicroCHIPS are creating a new generation of sophisticated medical systems that can sense critical biochemical changes and rapidly deliver therapy.”