TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | a p r i l 2 0 1 7 10 Hidden Treatment An implantable device could help patients at risk of HIV exposure get reliable, preventative medication B y C h r i s t i n e H a l l Solutions: TMC Innovations We've gotten to the point with the research where we have tested the implant to deliver the drug at the preventative level with no adverse effects. — ALESSANDRO GRATTONI, PH.D. Nanomedicine department chair at Houston Methodist Research Institute Alessandro Grattoni, Ph.D., holds a silicon nanochannel wafer containing 700 membranes. Each membrane is cut out and placed into a tiny implant. R emembering to take medication at the same time every day is what makes medication work. But life often gets in the way. You sleep an extra hour. You're supposed to take your meds after a meal but you eat late, which throws off your schedule. Or, you run out of your medication and can't get a refill. Alessandro Grattoni, Ph.D., nano- medicine department chair at Houston Methodist Research Institute, under- stands the plight of patients who need to take medication consistently to control their diseases. That's why he has worked on implantable nanochannel membranes for a decade. Grattoni joined Houston Methodist in 2010. He was introduced to Roberto Arduino, M.D., professor of infectious disease at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), who is actively involved with HIV research and prevention. In 2014, the World Health Organization estimated nearly 37 million people were living with HIV/ AIDS. Grattoni and Arduino started discussing possible applications of the implantable, nanofluidic drug delivery system for use in preventing HIV. Grattoni began testing a refillable implant that would be placed under the skin—typically on the inside of the upper arm—to release medications to people at risk of HIV exposure. Many high-risk patients already take Truvada, a combination therapy of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine, to help prevent HIV-1 infection, Grattoni said. Truvada is estimated to be up to 95 percent effective in preventing HIV when taken consistently, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the same study found the drug was only 44 percent effective among test subjects because people kept forgetting to take it, Grattoni said. "For patients, it is easy to forget, but in the context of HIV, forgetting is really dangerous," he said. "The implantable device stays under your skin, so it would not give you the

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