Is it possible to have a pill that continues to release the daily dose of a medicine one needs for the next week, fortnight or even longer? Well, in 21st century, everything is possible.
Experts from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and their collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a long-acting drug delivery capsule that may help to do just that in the future.
Experts are hopeful it could help people stick to inconvenient drugs regimes, particularly the elderly or those with dementia who struggle to remember to take their medicine.
The capsule looks like a pill but when swallowed it opens up into a star shape so that it does not pass through the stomach. The pill lingers in the stomach and releases its contents over a span of two weeks.
So far it has been tested with the malaria drug ivermectin. This breakthrough could boost the fight against malaria and other diseases.
The research is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is scheduled to move into human trials next year.
The results of this work are published in Science Translational Medicine.
