Programmable Pills

Markgor writes: "There is an article at Technology Review about 'smart pills' that are based on micro and nano technology. It starts off by talking about how it could help in chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients by homing in only on the cancerous cells, thereby avoiding the usual ill side effects of chemo. The most interesting part is the 'pharmacy on a chip' concept which has silicon chips loaded with years worth of concentrated drugs in reservoirs that are implanted in the body. These chips then allow for a pre-programmed timed release. Read the article here."

First Impressions

[Rob Riggs]

When I first saw the headline for this article I read it as "Programmable PIIIs" as in Pentium-III. And I was shocked I tell you. Shocked! I'd never heard of such nonsense!

l337 B10 - H4X0RS !!!

[indole]

I can think of a half a dozen good reasons why this is a bad idea:

My diabetes chip would get r00ted. I'd die.

WinBE (biological entity) would gpf. I'd die.

Open source bio chips would take too long to be released. I'd die.

Only the 15th patch will be able to support life. Dead.

Chinese build EMP weapon. Dead again.

Some asshole [slashdot.org] builds EMP weapon. you get the point.

I'm not even going to get into that can of worms that are raves.

upside downside

[deran9ed]

This could save many lives especially when certain surgeries could be avoided by taking these pills however I hope these scientists look at all aspects of the scenario before releasing them for use. e.g.: Testing scenarios that many would be subjected to, for instance a patient taking them who works in an industry with massive radio frequencies bouncing around. (Wouldn't want a pill to go bonkers)

Although this miniature pharmacy is promising, it still isn't ready to run independently. The voltage on each reservoir must be controlled by an external power source connected to the chip via wires threaded through the animal's tissue.

Would be nice if they could use the amounts of electric currents already traversing the human body to avoid using too many techie based things.

including squeezing up to 100 drug reservoirs onto some versions. Since each reservoir can hold only minute amounts of either powder or fluid, the company is focusing on using the chips for delivering potent drugs such as pain medications, anticancer agents, hormones and steroids.

I wonder if the scientists have tested to see if some drugs are succeptible to various things such as electronics, would their potency become less or more powerful, can they affect the actual medication? I'm sure they have, and I hate to see stories which leave a lot to question.

Or a radio-controlled chip that would allow a doctor to reprogram the device remotely after implantation, should the patient need a new dosing schedule.

IMHO I don't like the idea of having someone control something while its in my body. Are there going to be educational training seminars for the doctors, and maybe an association to monitor those doctors' actions. For example, what if you piss your doctor off by not paying a bill on time, the thought of them having the power to remotely make you worse is scary.

All in all though I hope it works, it could save many from being scarred by surgery, and it could give doctors better insights into the innards of a sickly human.

going out of stories sale [antioffline.com]

Programmable Pills

[Cheese_isgood]

I guess that would mean pharmacists would have to check for two different types of viruses now!