Towards wearable and implantable continuous drug monitoring: A review

Abstract

Continuous drug monitoring is a promising alternative to current therapeutic drug monitoring strategies and has strong potential to reshape our understanding of pharmacokinetic variability and to improve individualised therapy. This review highlights recent advances in biosensing technologies that support continuous drug monitoring in real time. We focus primarily on aptamer-based biosensors, wearable and implantable devices. Emphasis is given to the approaches employed in constructing biosensors. We pay attention to sensors’ biocompatibility, calibration performance, long-term characteristics stability and measurement quality. In the end, we discuss about the current challenges and issues to address in continuous drug monitoring to make it a promising, future tool for individualised therapy. The ongoing efforts are expected to result in fully integrated implantable drug biosensing technology. Thus, we may anticipate an era of advanced healthcare in which wearable and implantable biochips automatically adjust drug dosing in response to patient health conditions enabling the management of diseases and enhancing individualised therapy.

Soft Wearable Healthcare Materials and Devices

“…Furthermore, wearable chemical sensors for drug monitoring provide powerful tools for on‐site drug screening. [ 161,162 ] In general, wearable drug sensors on the human body are in four platforms for different body fluids: epidermal patch for sweat drugs monitoring, [ 163–165 ] microneedle patch for ISF drugs monitoring, [ 166,167 ] eyeglasses for tear drugs monitoring, [ 168,169 ] and a ring‐based sensor for saliva drugs monitoring. [ 169 ]…”

“…A feedback‐controlled therapeutic system that completes the loop of sensing and therapy will greatly assist clinical decision‐making processes and enhance overall therapeutic outcomes. [ 161,162,193,222–228 ]…”

Technological advances in electrochemical biosensors for the detection of disease biomarkers

“…Continuous health monitoring is a promising alternative to current therapeutic health monitoring strategies and has a strong potential to improve personalized treatment. Given continued efforts to miniaturize electronic devices, in vivo sensors are likely to evolve to full capacity as implantable sensors in the coming years [143]. Sun et al developed a flexible fibre-based implantable electrochemical sensor that mimics the hierarchical and helical assembly of native soft tissues.…”

Energy Solutions for Wearable Sensors: A Review

“…Wearable sensors have various clinical uses and are capable of sensing changes in human physiology, biochemistry and motion, which is required for both diagnostics and treatments in sports applications ( Figure 1 ). Additionally, these technologies can play a vital role in treating chronic illnesses by realizing continuous drug monitoring, which is a promising technique intended to replace current therapeutic drug monitoring strategies [ 3 ]. Physicians have used wearable sensors in several formats that are built to be attached to the human body to measure bio-signals.…”