Scientists create robotic pill that reaches the gut intact

Researchers at a British hospital and scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a robot capsule. RoboCap – Due to its vibratory capacity, it can deliver drugs directly to the intestine.

The most common way to give medication is by mouth – because it’s easier and more cost-effective. But drugs must pass through an acidic and hostile environment in the stomach, resist degradation by enzymes, cross the mucus-formed barrier of the small intestine, and cross many other barriers before being absorbed.

For these reasons, many drugs, such as insulin, need to be administered by other means, such as intravenous administration. The team tested the robotic device in preclinical models, administering insulin and vancomycin (an antibiotic usually given intravenously).

Here’s how it works: RoboCap’s gelatinous coating dissolves in the stomach after you swallow it. The environment of the small intestine then activates the vibrating and rotating robot capsule to clear mucus, improve mixing, and deposit the drug load in the small intestine where it must be absorbed.

The test already worked in a pig model, where the device increased the drug’s permeability to insulin and vancomycin by more than 10 times.

“Peptides and proteins are important drugs, but the destructive environment of the gastrointestinal tract and malabsorption have limited oral administration of these drugs,” said C. Giovanni Traverso, co-author of the study.

According to him, RoboCap’s mucus-clearing and agitating actions are designed to break through the body’s barriers and help deliver drugs where they’re needed. The next step would be to test its effectiveness in humans.

Matter: Science Robotics – https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abp9066.