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A major challenge in developing effective therapies is getting the drug to the right place at the right time.  A variety of drug administration paradigms have been developed in an attempt to overcome this issue of bioavailability, but each is susceptible to one or more hurdles including drug aggregation, inability to target the drug to the organ or tissue of interest, and inefficient permeation and subsequent clearance of the drug once it arrives at the target site.  Furthermore, the treatment of some conditions such as cancer, AIDS, and malaria require drug “cocktails” that involve complicated dosing regimens for each individual therapeutic.  As a result of these issues, patients oftentimes are receiving complicated or ineffective treatments at elevated costs due to the loss of precious drug substance.  The development of microdevices and the methods of customizing them to provide independent and controlled delivery of multiple drugs could transform the current standard of care.

U.S. demand for implantable medical devices is forecasted to increase 7.7% annually to $52 billion in 2015. With this growth, there is a need to decrease device failure rates and improve medical implant technology.  Medical implants often cause inflammation inside the body, which may affect the performance of the device and can lead to severe medical complications such as implant rejection or coagulation. In order for medical implants to function successfully in the body, the proper cell types must migrate to and populate the implanted device. Cells require highly specific extracellular surfaces for migration and proliferation and their inability to perform these tasks is often the source of medical complications. Nanotubes, which are small, synthetically produced structures similar in size to cell receptors and proteins, can be used to mimic these extracellular surfaces. Studies suggest that titanium oxide (TiO2) nanotubes enhance cell motility and proliferation [1,2]. Nanotube arrays therefore make ideal coatings for medical implants, however manufacturing processes are needed to grow nanotubes on complex 3D structures.