Northwestern University led progress toward implantable “living pharmacies,” reporting a wireless, fully implantable biohybrid system designed to keep engineered cells alive long enough to produce therapeutics inside the body. In rat studies published in Device, the team combined engineered biologics-producing cells with oxygen-generating bioelectronics to address the oxygen competition that typically limits implant performance. The platform, called HOBIT (hybrid oxygenation bioelectronics system for implanted therapy), integrates a locally oxygenating electrochemical component and includes immune shielding to protect the engineered cell “factories.” The researchers framed the design as a solution to sustained multi-therapy delivery where different biologic half-lives otherwise complicate stable dosing. A separate multi-institution report in the same platform narrative demonstrated simultaneous production of three different biologics in a small animal model, signaling the platform’s scalability toward chronic therapies that require steady drug levels.