'Pharmacy on a chip' gets closer

The futuristic idea that microchips could be implanted under a patient's skin to control the release of drugs has taken another step forward.

US scientists have been testing just such a device on women with the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis.

The chip was inserted in their waist and activated by remote control.

One of its developers, Prof Michael Cima from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told our correspondent Jonathan Amos how the idea for the implant came about.