Needle-coated drug delivery capsule ‘could replace injections’

A novel type of drug capsule has been developed by scientists in the US that has the potential to offer greater efficacy and convenience than injections.

Created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital, the new pill is coated with tiny needles that can inject drugs directly into the lining of the stomach after the capsule is swallowed.

Subsequent studies using animals showed that the capsule technology was able to deliver insulin more efficiently than injection under the skin, with no harmful side effects as the capsule passed through the digestive system.

Typically, many therapies – especially those made from large proteins – cannot be given as a pill because they get broken down in the stomach before they can be absorbed. This new approach solves this problem, while retaining all the convenience of typical oral administration.

Giovanni Traverso, a research fellow at MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, said: "This could be a way that the patient can circumvent the need to have an infusion or subcutaneous administration of a drug."