Emerging micro- and nanotechnologies at the interface of engineering, science, and medicine for the development of novel drug delivery devices and systems

摘要

Drug delivery technologies have evolved since ancient Egyptian times from simple pills to the intravenous infusion devices to the recently approved "digital medicines" consisting of pills with integrated ingestible microelectronic sensors. This long history of innovations in delivery of medicines is spurred by the need for efficient and effective drug management of health conditions. Historically, pills were followed by advances in intravenous medicine that dominated drug delivery technologies in the period spanning the late 15th century and through the 19th century. The 20th century was marked by the introduction of pumping technologies, largely driven by progress in diabetes treatment which propagated the widespread use of ambulatory infusion pumps powered by microprocessors.