Once ingested, a tiny device called Soma positions itself against the stomach wall and injects insulin into the bloodstream.
Credit: Frankel Traverso
Here was the challenge for bioengineers: Find a way to for patients to take drugs — like insulin or monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancers and other diseases — without injections.
The medicines are made of molecules too big to be absorbed through the stomach or intestines; in any event, the drugs would be quickly degraded by the body’s harsh digestive system.
Now, a team of scientists may have found a solution that delivers these drugs in a capsule a person can swallow. Their inspiration? A tortoise that always rights itself after rolling over.
The test device, called Soma, is shaped like the tortoise’s shell. Inside is a miniature post made of insulin. After the tiny device positions itself against the stomach wall, the post pops out and injects insulin. The device then travels through the colon and eventually is eliminated by the patient.
This sounds like an idea that will not work as well as the “old-fashioned” shot in the arm method works, and I do not trust it at all. (My wife is a diabetic (type 1) and would never trust anything so new and not thoroughly tested).
Oh, another pollutant to add to the waste stream and then the wider environment. Traces of human drugs found in city water supplies and what to do with all the unrecyclable (so far) lithium batteries tiny and car sized? Instead of working with nature we continue to develop complex technologies to throw away. The latest greatest always becomes so yesterday way too fast then on to the next thing.