Revolutionary research on Implanted Medical Devices

There are a large and steadily growing number of electronic devices being implanted in patients to treat a wide range of diseases such as arrthymia, diabetes, Parkinson Disease, macular degeneration and bipolar disease. While these devices are becoming increasingly complex, they all remain powered by conventional chemical batteries using a Lithium base such as Lithium Iodine (Li-ion) and Lithium Manganese Dioxide (Li/MnO2) and others. Implanted batteries, like all conventional batteries have an inherent drawback, they need to be replaced periodically since they eventually run out of power. (Note that rechargeable batteries for implantation have very short life spans) Consequently, implanted biomedical devices such as cardiac pacemakers and insulin pumps have a limited life, ranging from less than a year to perhaps 10 years. Currently, replacing the battery requires its surgical removal, typically along with the entire device that it services. This poses health risks to the patient, added costs to insurer and the public. Equally significantly, a growing number of new devices are intended for implantation in highly restricted spaces in the human body, e.g. artificial retinas and cochlea. Power sources for such devices will have to be highly compact. Thus the expense and risk of replacing conventional implanted batteries along with a growing need for miniaturized power sources has motivated research into a new generation of biologically-based power devices.

To address this problem a number of groups are engaged in the development of so-called "biobatteries". These devices are actually fuel cells in which either live bacteria or immobilized enzymes convert biological substrates (e.g. glucose) to electrical energy in redox (oxidation-reduction) reactions. These devices would be implantable in the host and use host metabolites as chemical "fuel". While progress has been made in demonstrating adequate power output for these devices, the issue of battery life has been a major problem in their development.

In contrast, Biotricity Medical Inc. has conceived a novel device in which electricity is produced in the same manner as many living tissues do, including those of human beings. The critical difference between our biogenerator and conventional limited-life chemical batteries is that ours uses artificially configured living tissue to create electricity indefinitely from host metabolic substrates (i.e. glucose and oxygen). Also, in contrast to implantable biofuel cells currently under development, our biogenerator is self-repairing and self-maintaining. This will virtually eliminate periodic surgical removal of implantable biomedical devices to replace their energy source and will provide patients with a reliable and consistent treatment for their disease without the considerable risk and expense inherent in surgical procedures. In addition, since this device generates energy constantly, in principle it can be made much smaller than a chemical battery (which continually depletes its fixed energy supply). When fully developed, our biogenerator will be capable of powering a variety of electronic medical devices, such as pacemakers, artificial retinas, insulin pumps, cochlear implants, vagal nerve stimulators, and other future devices that will monitor bodily functions.

The validity of the basic design concepts for this device has been confirmed in preliminary experiments, and a comprehensive developmental plan has been identified.