Gadget gives insulin dose inside stomach

WASHINGTON — Scientists have figured out how to hide a shot inside a pea-size pill — creating a swallowable gadget that can inject medicines like insulin from inside the stomach.

Patients usually prefer oral treatment, and comply with it better, but many compounds, including insulin for diabetes, can’t survive the harsh trip through the digestive system.

The new invention, reported Thursday by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-led research team, has been tested only in animals so far.

Researchers crafted a miniature capsule with a similar shape and a weighted bottom, so that once it reaches the stomach it automatically rolls in the right direction to latch on, said Dr. Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist at Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital and a senior author of the study.

Next the team designed a micro-injector, like a needle only made of dried insulin compressed into a sharp point. To power it, researchers bound a tiny spring to a hardened sugar disk.

Stomach acid gradually dissolves the sugar until the spring pops, shooting the insulin into the stomach wall.

In pigs, the ingestible injection lowered blood sugar to levels comparable to standard shots, according to the study published in the journal Science.

Once the insulin was absorbed, the capsule, made of stainless steel and a biodegradable material, floated free and was excreted.