Scientific researchers have always wanted to develop a way to deliver drugs inside our body to treat notoriously difficult diseases. In most treatments, the drugs cause serious side effects as they also attack healthy cells. To avoid these unwanted responses, researchers have tried to combine drugs that target specific cells within the human body. However, even after more than 10 years of the smartphone revolution, we haven’t seen any technological advancements in the drug delivery system. This is about to change thanks to the Researchers at MIT, who have designed an ingestible capsule that can be controlled by Bluetooth wireless technology.
According to a study published in the Advanced Materials Technologies, the capsule can be customized to transmit information by sensing environmental conditions as well as to respond to instructions from a smartphone to deliver drugs. The capsule can stay inside the stomach for at least a month.
“Our system could provide closed-loop monitoring and treatment, whereby a signal can help guide the delivery of a drug or tuning the dose of a drug,” – Giovanni Traverso, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering
The electronic pill will be manufactured using 3-D printing technology, which will be a cost-effective way to produce these smart capsules. The pill can be used to delivery drugs that require a strict dosing regiment as it can selectively release the drugs at the right time, which means that the patient will no longer have to remember when to take their drugs. The capsule can also be used as a sensor to release drugs when it detects allergic reactions, adverse effects, or infections. The electronic pill will also be able to communicate with other implantable and wearable devices to collect information that can be provided to the doctor in real time. So you can imagine that once day you will be able to send real time reports to your doctor, who can then provide information about the treatment plan without in-person consultation.
“We are excited about this demonstration of 3-D printing and of how ingestible technologies can help people through novel devices that facilitate mobile health applications,” – Robert Langer, Professor at David H. Koch Institute and member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
Previous initiatives for digital health
There have been previous attempts to use sensor technology for a similar purpose. For instance, in 2017, FDA had approved a new medication that would track whether a patient has taken their medication. The pill was designed such that the medication was embedded with a sensor that the patient would take and ingest orally. The sensor contained copper, magnesium, and silicon parts that generate an electric signal when it comes in to contact with stomach fluid. The signal is detected by a patch worn above the rib-cage, which is then sent to your smartphone so that the information can be tracked on your smartphone. The main application for this technology was meant for medication used by patients with schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorders. However, this approach was very limited as it only provided passive information on schedule adherence.
In contrast, the new electronic pill design, by MIT researchers, is able to react in real time by delivering the drug as per the schedule, which removes the responsibility from the patient entirely. The sensor embedded in the pill can provide vital information about the patient’s heart rate, breathing rate, and temperature. The sensor technology can also be used respond with appropriate medication as soon as any early signs of disease are detected. For instance, the patients who are receiving chemotherapy or immuno-suppressive drugs might be at a high risk of infection, so the electronic pill can be used to release antibiotics when it detects the infection. In addition, allergic reactions can be detected to release antihistamines as a response.
The researchers decided to use 3-D printing technology to easily incorporate the various components of the capsules. In order to withstand the acidic environment of the stomach, the capsule is built from alternating layers of flexible and stiff polymers. The 3-D printing technology allows for manufacture of “unique multicomponent architectures and functional devices”, which are not possible using the conventional manufacturing techniques. The current version of the device is powered by small oxide battery and the researchers are hoping to replace it with external antenna or stomach acid as alternate power sources. The research is funded by the
National Institutes of Health and Billy and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The use of gastric resident electronics holds a great potential to revolutionize the medical industry as it can serve as a platform for mobile health to help patients remotely.
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Source: MIT and mHealthIntelligence
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