Despite the Covid pandemic showing that vital treatments can be developed quicker than is often the case, medicines remain extremely expensive to produce, which inevitably limits global access to them. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology believe they have a solution.

They have developed a material that uses electrical signals to first capture and then release biomolecules. This, they hope, could pave the way for things like drug implants or electronic pills. The researchers explain that biomedicines are often extremely expensive in part due to the difficulties in separating molecules, so new approaches with a higher drug yield will be vital to reducing costs.

“Our polymer surfaces offer a new way of separating proteins by using electrical signals to control how they are bound to and released from a surface, while not affecting the structure of the protein,” the researchers say.

Binding molecules

They explain that separation is usually done via chromatography, which binds biomolecules to the surface, with strong chemicals then required to release them. This results in significant losses and a poor yield. Indeed, new medicines are often highly sensitive to such strong use of chemicals. By lowering the consumption of chemicals, not only can it improve yields, but also benefit the environment as the surfaces of each material can be reused hundreds of times.

The new material is also able to function in biological fluids, and its buffering capacity is able to counteract any changes in the pH value. This is particularly valuable as it opens up the potential for the creation of new implants and even electronic “pills” that can release medicine into the body via electronic activation.

“You can imagine a doctor, or a computer program, measuring the need for a new dose of medicine in a patient, and a remote-controlled signal activating the release of the drug from the implant located in the very tissue or organ where it’s needed,” the researchers explain.

Drug release

They highlight how drug release is currently available via materials that are affected by their surrounding chemical environment. For instance, tablets made out of pH-sensitive material are capable of releasing the drug in the gastrointestinal tract as this environment has natural variations in pH value. This isn’t the case for most other parts of the body, however, where little variation exists.

“Being able to control the release and uptake of proteins in the body with minimal surgical interventions and without needle injections is, we believe, a unique and useful property. The development of electronic implants is only one of several conceivable applications that are many years into the future. Research that helps us to link electronics with biology at a molecular level is an important piece of the puzzle in such a direction,” the authors explain.

What’s more, the new method is also capable of performing without requiring significant sums of energy, due in large part to the thinness of the polymer placed on the surface of the electrode. This means that the surface easily reacts to very small electrochemical signals.

“Electronics in biological environments is often limited by the size of the battery and the moving mechanical parts. Activation at a molecular level reduces both the energy requirement and the need for moving parts,” the researchers conclude.