{"id":11583,"date":"2025-04-25T09:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T16:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=11583"},"modified":"2025-04-25T09:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T16:18:09","slug":"bill-gates-funds-slim-microneedle-tech-that-self-assembles-inside-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/04\/25\/bill-gates-funds-slim-microneedle-tech-that-self-assembles-inside-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates Funds \u2018SLIM\u2019 Microneedle Tech That Self-Assembles Inside the Body"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You might want to think twice about letting white coats near you with needles. I think SLIM is what you become after letting them experiment on you, before your earlier than expected expiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/modernity.news\/2025\/04\/25\/bill-gates-funds-slim-microneedle-tech-that-self-assembles-inside-the-body\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

By Jon Fleetwood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Forms an implant inside the recipient\u2019s body after injection<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

A new injectable contraceptive platform developed with Gates Foundation funding is being promoted as a \u201cnonsurgical option for women,\u201d but its self-assembling drug delivery mechanism and potential for future adaptation to neuropsychiatric and infectious disease drugs raise serious safety, ethical, and biosecurity concerns.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Gates supports depopulation, during a 2010 TedTalk stating<\/a> that \u201cif we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower [the world population] by, perhaps, 10 or 15 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new technology, described in Nature Chemical Engineering<\/em> and reported by Healio<\/a> yesterday, was developed by researchers from MIT, Harvard Medical School, and the Broad Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It delivers the long-acting contraceptive levonorgestrel<\/strong> through self-aggregating long-acting injectable microcrystals<\/strong>, or \u201cSLIM,\u201d that form an implant inside<\/strong> the recipient\u2019s body after injection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce injected, the drug microcrystals self-aggregate in the subcutaneous space to form a monolithic implant,\u201d said Giovanni Traverso, MD, BChir, PhD, associate professor at MIT and physician at Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press release, the researchers described the mechanism as \u201clike tiny puzzle pieces that, once injected inside the body, undergo solvent exchange to assemble into a single solid implant<\/strong> that slowly releases the drug as the surface erodes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This solvent-exchange crystallization process, enabling administration with an ultra-thin 30-gauge needle<\/strong>, allows for \u201cprolonged drug release\u201d<\/strong> without requiring surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It bypasses traditional medical oversight and dramatically increases the possibility of self-administration<\/strong>, which researchers claim would improve accessibility and \u201cmedication use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this radical convenience comes at a cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traverso explained the driving motivation behind the project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge is people do not like injections. Is there a way to engineer something to help overcome those types of challenges? That is our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their solution was to use a solvent that solubilizes the drug<\/strong> during injection, then \u201cgo[es] away\u201d<\/strong> in the body, leaving behind the crystallized drug structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we were able to figure out is by using a solvent or fluid that can help solubilize the drug, we could load that solution in a way that, when injected, that solvent would go away and leave behind that solid depot of drug,\u201d Traverso told Healio<\/em>. \u201cBecause it is fluid and we are loading it, it is much easier to inject. That was critical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also wanted that object to be solid enough that we could retrieve it if we needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal, he said, was a drug platform that could be injected easily yet form a physically solid implant<\/strong> that may be removable if required\u2014though the method of removal post-aggregation is unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Healio<\/em>, \u201cthe solvent-exchange-mediated aggregation mechanism allows injections through needles as small as 30 G with no polymer and 25 G with a small amount of polymer while extending the drug release time frame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Histological studies allegedly confirmed the drug platform was \u201cwell tolerated,\u201d and researchers claim its applications could extend beyond contraception<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpecifically, in applications such as contraception, SLIM\u2019s capability for prolonged drug release could significantly reduce the frequency of administration compared with current self-administrable options such as Depo-Provera and Sayana Press,\u201d the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they don\u2019t intend to stop at contraceptives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraverso said the researchers are still actively working on the platform and applying it to several other infectious and neuropsychiatric conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom a manufacturing standpoint, this [design] is simple and low cost,\u201d Traverso said. \u201cThis work was funded by the Gates Foundation, an organization that considers those aspects from an early stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He concluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope to be in humans [with this technology] within the next 3 to 5 years, assuming further funding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What This Means<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gates Foundation is now backing a self-assembling drug delivery platform<\/strong> designed for low-cost mass production<\/strong>, self-injection<\/strong>, and potential fertility suppression<\/strong>\u2014and the developers plan to expand its use to psychiatric drugs and vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key concerns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n