Researchers Are Working on a Surprising Way to Deliver Insulin Without an Injection: Swallowing the Needle

Needles aren’t popular. For people with type 1 diabetes (and some with type 2 diabetes) that can be a problem, since treatment requires regular injections with insulin. Now, researchers at MIT have come up with a novel way to one day eliminate the need for injections: with a tiny swallowable device that can automatically inject insulin directly into the stomach wall. In a report published in Science, Robert Langer and Giovanni Traverso describe what they call a self-orienting millimeter scale applicator, or SOMA, that they developed to make injecting drugs easier. So far, SOMA has only been tested in animals. Roughly the size of a capsule and made of stainless steel and other biodegradable materials, SOMA is equipped with a spring-loaded needle that contains insulin. It’s also weighted so that it always rights itself — like a wobble toy — and the opening for the needle can always find its mark (in this case, the stomach wall). When the team tested the device in pigs, the device always righted itself so that when the spring holding the needle was triggered by the water in the stomach, the needle pierced the pigs’ stomachs, delivering an insulin payload. In three pigs that swallowed the SOMA, the device led to similar blood levels of insulin as injections through the skin. Langer and Traverso say more studies need to be done in more animals, but believe the technology has potential in helping deliver more drugs to more people in coming years. Peop...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized diabetes healthytime Source Type: news