Magnetic pill invented for better drug delivery
Brown University\'s magnetic pill could ensure delivery to the optimum site in patients
The problem with administering many medications orally is that a pill often will not dissolve at exactly the right site in the gastrointestinal tract where the medicine can be absorbed into the bloodstream. The new magnetic pill system developed by Brown University researchers could solve the problem by safely holding a pill wherever it needs to be.
‘With this technology you can now tell where the pill is placed, take some blood samples and know exactly if the pill being in this region really enhances the bioavailability of the medicine in the body,’ said Edith Mathiowitz, professor of medical science in Brown’s Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology.
The two main components of the system are conventional-looking gelatine capsules that contain a tiny magnet, and an external magnet that can precisely sense the force between it and the pill and vary that force, as needed, to hold the pill in place. The external magnet can sense the pill’s position, but because the pill is opaque to x-rays, the researchers were also able to see the pill in the rat’s bodies during their studies.
The system is not the first attempt to guide pills magnetically, but it is the first one in which scientists can control the forces on a pill so that it is safe to use in the body. They designed their system to sense the position of pills and hold them there with a minimum of force.
‘The most important thing is to be able to monitor the forces that you exert on the pill in order to avoid damage to the surrounding tissue,’ said Mathiowitz. ‘If you apply a little more than necessary force, your pill will be pulled to the external magnet, and this is a problem.’
To accomplish this the team, including lead author and former graduate student Bryan Laulicht, took careful measurements and built an external magnet system with sophisticated computer control and feedback mechanisms. Even after holding a pill in place for 12 hours in the rats, the system applied a pressure on the intestinal wall that was less than 1/60th of what would be damaging.
The next step in the research is to begin delivering drugs using the system and testing their absorption.
The scientists have described the operation of the magnetic pill system in rats online (week of Jan. 17) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
You may also like
Trending Articles
-
You need to be a subscriber to read this article.
Click here to find out more. -
You need to be a subscriber to read this article.
Click here to find out more.
You may also like
Drug Delivery
embecta completes £100m acquisition of UK-based Owen Mumford to bolster drug delivery portfolio
US diabetes care company embecta has finalised its acquisition of Owen Mumford, gaining access to the Aidaptus next-generation auto-injector platform as it accelerates its transition into a broad-based medical supplies company
Pharmaceutical
MHRA approves every-four-week dosing regimen for Chiesi's Elfabrio in stable adult Fabry disease patients
The firm has received MHRA approval for an additional 2 mg/kg every-four-week dosing regimen for pegunigalsidase alfa, halving the number of annual infusions required for eligible adult Fabry disease patients from 26 to 13
You need to be a subscriber to read this article.
Click here to find out more.
Click here to find out more.
Drug Delivery
Wearable pumps and subcutaneous delivery: a new frontier in heart failure management
Two recent developments are reshaping how drug delivery technology can move treatment out of the clinic and into patients’ everyday lives — with implications for both formulation science and device manufacturing
Manufacturing
Lonza expands AAV offering with Xcite AAV stable Producer Cell Line platform to idustrialise Viral Vector Manufacturing
New technology demonstrates superior performance versus transient transfection in clinically relevant customer gene of interest and engineered capsid, enabling scalable and cost-effective AAV manufacturing. Launch reflects Lonza’s deep expertise in cell line development, viral vector manufacturing, and platform industrialisation built over decades of supporting complex biologics