Patent ID: 7201733

Claim:
A drug delivery system comprising: an implantable cardiac device having incorporated therein a sensor for sensing a physiological variable in a patient, a first telemetry interface for transmitting radio frequency signals, and circuitry for modulating the radio frequency signals with a drug delivery command signal; an external drug delivery device for affixation to a skin surface location on the patient, the drug delivery device having incorporated therein a second telemetry interface for receiving radio frequency signals, circuitry for demodulating radio signals to derive a drug delivery command signal therefrom, and circuitry for controlling the drug delivery device in order to deliver a drug upon receipt of a drug delivery command signal; wherein the implantable cardiac device is programmed to transmit a drug delivery command signal to the external drug delivery device in response to the sensed physiological variable in a manner that attempts to control the sensed variable in a closed-loop fashion; and, wherein the system is programmed to maintain a downloadable log of the sensed physiological variable and of the amount of drug administered by the drug delivery device that can be used to formulate an optimum drug dosage schedule for the patient.