Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Microchips Biotech, a Lexington, Mass.-based provider of microchip-based implants, have entered into a partnership to explore innovative ways to apply Microchips Biotech’s implantable drug delivery device to Teva’s portfolio of products with the goal of enhancing clinical outcomes for patients on chronic drug therapies.

Microchips Biotech’s electronic device is made up of microchip arrays that can store hundreds of therapeutic doses of drugs for periods ranging from months to years and releases each dose at precise times. The device can be programmed to release a drug on a pre-determined schedule and will have wireless control features.

“The microchip-based implant is truly at the intersection of digital technology and medicine and the future of drug delivery for patients who cannot tolerate needles, require regular self-administered injections or where compliance is critical to outcomes,” said Michael Hayden, M.D., Ph.D., Teva’s president of Global R&D and chief scientific officer.

Teva will make a $35 million upfront payment to Microchips Biotech in the form of an equity investment and technology access fee. The partnership has an initial focus on one selected disease area, but will provide Teva with the option to later expand the program into several additional therapeutic areas and sensing applications that are proprietary to Teva.

As programs advance, Microchips Biotech will receive development and commercial milestone payments and royalties on future product sales. Microchips Biotech also will receive funding to develop products for any future additional indications Teva may develop, and Teva will be responsible for phase II and phase III clinical development and regulatory filings.

The microchip-based implant is a self-contained hermetically-sealed drug delivery device that is easy to implant and remove in a physician’s office setting that can store hundreds of therapeutic doses over months and years, and releases each dose at precise times. The implant has been clinically-validated in human studies delivering parathyroid hormone in osteoporosis patients and the system is fully programmable via wireless communications to adjust dosing by physician and/or patient. The microchip-based technology was originally developed at MIT by researchers Robert Langer, Ph.D., and Michael J. Cima, Ph.D.