Tiny needle in a pill to replace injections
AsmArt ‘pill’ based on the shape of a tortoise could replace the regular injections needed by people with diabetes and other long-term conditions. the idea is that the capsule — the size of a blueberry — can be loaded with a single dose of medication and swallowed in place of a jab.
The capsule is flat on one side, and domed on the other, and is based on the leopard tortoise from Africa, which can easily flip over onto its feet after a fall or attack.
The bottom of the pill is weighted so that once it has rolled down the food pipe and arrived in the stomach, it won’t settle until the flat bottom has ‘found its feet’ and is touching the lining of the stomach.
The plastic capsule contains a tiny needle (about 4.5mm long) held in place by a solid sugar pellet that dissolves roughly four minutes after encountering the high levels of moisture in the stomach.
The dissolving sugar activates a latch system that releases the medication via a tiny needle into the stomach lining, from where it travels straight into the bloodstream.
The moisture level needed to trigger this means there is a time delay before the needle is released, preventing its activation earlier in the digestion process.
Once injected, the needle is then pulled back into the capsule via a tiny spring and the whole device safely passes through the digestive system.
The researchers behind the capsule say that as there are no pain receptors in the stomach lining, the jab would be painless.
The idea is that the capsule could be loaded with insulin, for instance, to replace the several injections needed daily by many of those with diabetes (multiple pills may still be required as the capsules are single-use).
They could also be used instead of the adrenaline auto-injectors carried by people suffering from severe allergies.
And the capsule could deliver treatments such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). the manmade versions of antibodies are specially engineered to fight certain diseases, including breast cancer and autoimmune disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.
While potentially gamechanging, mAbs and other biologics are made of proteins targeted by enzymes high up in the digestive tract — meaning they will not survive long enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream if taken as a pill. For this reason they have to be given intravenously or as an injection. this is where the capsule could come in.
When the capsule, called the L-somA, was trialled on pigs, it effectively delivered 4mg of the biologic Humira (used for rheumatoid arthritis) into their stomachs and 80 per cent of the drug was absorbed within half an hour of taking it, reported the journal Nature Biotechnology.
It’s hoped that human trials of the capsule, which was developed by the massachusetts Institute of technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the U.s. will start soon.
‘Injections are frequently unpopular with patients so another option is highly sought after,’ says Abdul Basit, a professor of pharmaceutics at University College London.
‘the success of this study is a positive sign, but will likely need to be improved if the device is to pass through clinical trials to be used in humans.
‘If successful, the capsule could become invaluable to patients who are scared of injections, or dislike attending regular medical appointments or injecting themselves.’