MIT engineers designed an ingestible capsule that vibrates within the stomach, creating an illusory sense of fullness and reducing appetite. The pill could offer a minimally invasive, cost-effective way to treat obesity.
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One reason that it's so difficult to deliver large protein drugs orally is that these drugs can't pass through the mucus barrier that lines the digestive tract.
A new drug capsule developed at MIT can help large proteins such as insulin and small-molecule drugs be absorbed in the digestive tract. The capsule has a robotic cap that spins and tunnels through the mucus barrier when it reaches the small intestine, allowing drugs carried by the capsule to pass into cells lining the intestine.