TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES FOR DRUG DELIVERY

Some types of drugs are not effective as oral treatments and must be given as shots, like insulin.

 

New technology that involves a tiny motor in a pill might make oral drug delivery possible for more drugs.

 

The pill, called RoboCap, was tested in pigs.

 

In the future, diabetes patients could swallow their insulin treatments instead of having to give themselves shots. This could be made possible by innovative research into small pills that are designed to deliver drugs in the gut.

 

In a paper published in Science Robotics, an interdisciplinary team out of Massachusetts details the development of RoboCap, a robotic capsule that can burrow past mucus in the intestines to deliver drugs. This device could help drugs get absorbed better and could be an alternative to taking drugs intravenously through shots.