Abstract: A preferred thermal pharmaceutical delivery apparatus (10) includes a drug delivery unit (12) including a drug absorbent gel body (16) capable of desorbing a drug upon being heated, a heating element(18) positioned within the gel body (16), and a power receiving antenna (20) coupled with the heating element (18). The drug delivery unit (12) can be implanted subcutaneously in vivo. The apparatus (10) further includes a power unit (14) having a controller (26) coupled with a sending antenna (28) configured for inductively coupling transdermally with the receiving antenna (20) for delivering electrical power thereto in order to heat the element (18) and release the drug from the gel body (16).