Drug capsule could take sting out of insulin ingestion

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Diabetics might one day ingest medication orally following the development of a drug capsule that carries insulin or other protein drugs safely into the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract.

The advance by MIT engineers in collaboration with scientists from Novo Nordisk overcomes the limitations of protein-based drugs that would normally break down in the gastrointestinal tract if taken orally.

Instead, when the new the capsule reaches the small intestine, it breaks down to reveal dissolvable microneedles that attach to the intestinal wall and release drug for uptake into the bloodstream.

"We are really pleased with the latest results of the new oral delivery device our lab members have developed with our collaborators, and we look forward to hopefully seeing it help people with diabetes and others in the future," said Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

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In tests in pigs, the researchers showed that this capsule could load a comparable amount of insulin to that of an injection, enabling fast uptake into the bloodstream after the microneedles were released.

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