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February 8, 2019 
editors Medicine, pediatrics
Insulin injections are a reality for millions of people with diabetes. Unlike many other medications, insulin, being a protein, can not easily be converted into a traditional pill. Inhaled insulin (afrezza) is an option that works for some patients, but it has not worked very well. A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard and Novo Nordisk, the world leader in the production of insulin, has developed a pill that reliably attaches to the walls of the stomach to automatically inject the drug into the bloodstream.
The pill, which has already been tested on pigs, has a mechanism that ensures that, after ingestion, its injection needle is positioned against the wall of the stomach. The needle protrudes to hook into the stomach and to access the blood system in the stomach. The insulin is then pushed to administer the treatment, without the patient having to do more than just swallow the pill.
Once the insulin is released, and that quantity can be customized for different patients, the pill will come off the stomach and leave the body with the rest of the excrement. The pill consists of a biodegradable polymer and small pieces of steel, so the side effects of the pill are little to be feared. Although it was developed for the administration of insulin, the pill could also prove to be effective for administering other protein-based medications.
Researchers are currently working on optimizing their pill and looking for the best way to make it to materialize something that has long been a holy grail of medicine.
Journal study Science: An unmanageable self-orienting system for the oral administration of macromolecules …
Via: MIT …
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