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Credit: USDA
Scientists have created a novel drug capsule coated with tiny needles that can inject drugs directly into the lining of the stomach after the capsule is swallowed.
In experiments with pigs, the capsule delivered insulin more efficiently than an injection under the skin, and there were no harmful side effects as the capsule passed through the digestive system.
The researchers anticipate the capsule would be most useful for delivering biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies to treat cancers and other disorders.
“This could be a way that the patient can circumvent the need to have an infusion or subcutaneous administration of a drug,” said Giovanni Traverso, MB BChir, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He and his colleagues described their capsule in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The team had set out to design a capsule that would serve as a platform for the delivery of a wide range of therapeutics, prevent degradation of the drugs, and inject the payload directly into the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.
Their prototype acrylic capsule, 2 cm long and 1 cm in diameter, includes a reservoir for the drug and is coated with hollow, stainless steel needles about 5 mm long.
Previous studies of accidental ingestion of sharp objects in human patients have suggested that it could be safe to swallow a capsule coated with short needles. Because there are no pain receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, patients would not feel any pain from the drug injection.
To test whether this type of capsule could allow safe and effective drug delivery, the researchers tested it in pigs, with insulin as the drug payload.
It took more than a week for the capsules to move through the entire digestive tract, and the researchers found no traces of tissue damage, supporting the potential safety of this novel approach.
They also found the microneedles successfully injected insulin into the lining of the stomach, small intestine, and colon, causing the animals’ blood glucose levels to drop. This reduction in blood glucose was faster and larger than the drop seen when the same amount of glucose was given by subcutaneous injection.
“The kinetics are much better, and much faster-onset, than those seen with traditional under-the-skin administration,” Dr Traverso said. “For molecules that are particularly difficult to absorb, this would be a way of actually administering them at much higher efficiency.”
This approach could also be used to administer vaccines that normally have to be injected, the researchers said.
The team now plans to modify the capsule so that peristalsis would slowly squeeze the drug out of the capsule as it travels through the digestive tract.
They are also working on capsules with needles made of degradable polymers and sugar that would break off and become embedded in the gut lining, where they would slowly disintegrate and release the drug. This would further minimize any safety concern. 
Credit: USDA
Scientists have created a novel drug capsule coated with tiny needles that can inject drugs directly into the lining of the stomach after the capsule is swallowed.
In experiments with pigs, the capsule delivered insulin more efficiently than an injection under the skin, and there were no harmful side effects as the capsule passed through the digestive system.
The researchers anticipate the capsule would be most useful for delivering biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies to treat cancers and other disorders.
“This could be a way that the patient can circumvent the need to have an infusion or subcutaneous administration of a drug,” said Giovanni Traverso, MB BChir, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He and his colleagues described their capsule in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The team had set out to design a capsule that would serve as a platform for the delivery of a wide range of therapeutics, prevent degradation of the drugs, and inject the payload directly into the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.
Their prototype acrylic capsule, 2 cm long and 1 cm in diameter, includes a reservoir for the drug and is coated with hollow, stainless steel needles about 5 mm long.
Previous studies of accidental ingestion of sharp objects in human patients have suggested that it could be safe to swallow a capsule coated with short needles. Because there are no pain receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, patients would not feel any pain from the drug injection.
To test whether this type of capsule could allow safe and effective drug delivery, the researchers tested it in pigs, with insulin as the drug payload.
It took more than a week for the capsules to move through the entire digestive tract, and the researchers found no traces of tissue damage, supporting the potential safety of this novel approach.
They also found the microneedles successfully injected insulin into the lining of the stomach, small intestine, and colon, causing the animals’ blood glucose levels to drop. This reduction in blood glucose was faster and larger than the drop seen when the same amount of glucose was given by subcutaneous injection.
“The kinetics are much better, and much faster-onset, than those seen with traditional under-the-skin administration,” Dr Traverso said. “For molecules that are particularly difficult to absorb, this would be a way of actually administering them at much higher efficiency.”
This approach could also be used to administer vaccines that normally have to be injected, the researchers said.
The team now plans to modify the capsule so that peristalsis would slowly squeeze the drug out of the capsule as it travels through the digestive tract.
They are also working on capsules with needles made of degradable polymers and sugar that would break off and become embedded in the gut lining, where they would slowly disintegrate and release the drug. This would further minimize any safety concern.
Credit: USDA
Scientists have created a novel drug capsule coated with tiny needles that can inject drugs directly into the lining of the stomach after the capsule is swallowed.
In experiments with pigs, the capsule delivered insulin more efficiently than an injection under the skin, and there were no harmful side effects as the capsule passed through the digestive system.
The researchers anticipate the capsule would be most useful for delivering biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies to treat cancers and other disorders.
“This could be a way that the patient can circumvent the need to have an infusion or subcutaneous administration of a drug,” said Giovanni Traverso, MB BChir, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He and his colleagues described their capsule in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The team had set out to design a capsule that would serve as a platform for the delivery of a wide range of therapeutics, prevent degradation of the drugs, and inject the payload directly into the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.
Their prototype acrylic capsule, 2 cm long and 1 cm in diameter, includes a reservoir for the drug and is coated with hollow, stainless steel needles about 5 mm long.
Previous studies of accidental ingestion of sharp objects in human patients have suggested that it could be safe to swallow a capsule coated with short needles. Because there are no pain receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, patients would not feel any pain from the drug injection.
To test whether this type of capsule could allow safe and effective drug delivery, the researchers tested it in pigs, with insulin as the drug payload.
It took more than a week for the capsules to move through the entire digestive tract, and the researchers found no traces of tissue damage, supporting the potential safety of this novel approach.
They also found the microneedles successfully injected insulin into the lining of the stomach, small intestine, and colon, causing the animals’ blood glucose levels to drop. This reduction in blood glucose was faster and larger than the drop seen when the same amount of glucose was given by subcutaneous injection.
“The kinetics are much better, and much faster-onset, than those seen with traditional under-the-skin administration,” Dr Traverso said. “For molecules that are particularly difficult to absorb, this would be a way of actually administering them at much higher efficiency.”
This approach could also be used to administer vaccines that normally have to be injected, the researchers said.
The team now plans to modify the capsule so that peristalsis would slowly squeeze the drug out of the capsule as it travels through the digestive tract.
They are also working on capsules with needles made of degradable polymers and sugar that would break off and become embedded in the gut lining, where they would slowly disintegrate and release the drug. This would further minimize any safety concern.