Refillable and magnetically actuated drug delivery system using pear-shaped viscoelastic membrane

Abstract

We report a refillable and valveless drug delivery device actuated by an external magnetic field for on- demand drug release to treat localized diseases. The device features a pear-shaped viscoelastic magnetic membrane inducing asymmetrical deflection and consecutive touchdown motion to the bottom of the dome-shaped drug reservoir in response to a magnetic field, thus achieving controlled discharge of the drug. Maximum drug release with 1861.5 mu g per actuation was achieved under a 500mT magnetic flux density, and various controlled drug doses were investigated with the combination of the number of accumulated actuations and the strength of the magnetic field.