If you’re diabetic and rely on insulin, imagine taking a pill for that instead of a shot. Sounds amazing, right? Well, one day in the future it could actually become a reality.
It sounds far-fetched, we know. However, a group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have found a way to administer insulin orally. Thus, in the future, people who rely on the hormone could potentially be done with the painful daily injections.
Of course, this isn’t a typical pill by any stretch of the imagination. It’s actually a pea-sized insulin-delivering device. Once swallowed, it deploys a tiny needle that injects insulin directly into one’s stomach lining. Since there are no pain receptors there, it ensures a painless delivery of the drug.
Sounds pretty futuristic, doesn’t it?
The pill is made from a biodegradable polyester material already used in several medical applications. As such, it can safely be ingested. The spring that delivers the injection is kept in place with the help of caramelized sugar. It simply dissolves when exposed to stomach acid. The 1.7-millimeter needle itself is made of dried, compacted insulin.
Even more fascinating is how the scientists found the perfect shape for the pill. Inspired by the self-righting leopard tortoise, the insulin-delivering capsule also self-orients.
Though the research is still in its early stages, preliminary tests have shown it to be effective in pigs. Unfortunately, there’s one caveat. Currently, the pill only works when the animals don’t have food or liquid in their stomachs.
While they’re working to prevent that from being an issue, there’s still a lot of aspects that must be tested.
“Still, the [pill] represents a platform with the potential to deliver a broad range of biologic drugs, including but not limited to other protein- and nucleic acid-based therapies,” the researchers say.
Unfortunately, it may be some time before the insulin-delivering pills make it to your local pharmacy.
“We anticipate the first human trials will happen within the next three to five years, but then the device will need to go into clinical trials as well,” Alex Abramson, one of the lead researchers, told ABC News.
The scientist’s research was recently featured in the journal Science.
That said, ABC News notes that there have been “other innovations in insulin delivery that have also been injection-free.” These include both insulin pumps and Afrezza, an inhalable form of insulin that is taken just prior to a meal.
