At the moment one of the ways to treat diabetes is to give the patient an injection of insulin. This can be somewhat painful and inconvenient, but Swiss drugmakers Novartis are currently exploring the idea of using robotic pills to deliver the doses of insulin, according to a report from Reuters.
Teaming up with Rani Therapeutics, the pill is dubbed the Rani capsule, the idea behind it is rather straightforward. The patient will just need to swallow the pill like any normal pill. However the pill is more than what it seems. It’s actually a tiny robot that will be able to deliver the insulin through tiny needles that are made of sugar which are then pushed through the wall of the intestine.
According to the company, it seems that the robotic pill will be able to do more than just deliver insulin into the system. They are hoping that the pill can also be used with other forms of medication that require injections as well, such as treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis.
At the moment the company is looking to conduct feasibility studies over the next 18-24 months to evaluate what other biologic medicines can be delivered into the bloodstream in a similar manner. It is unclear as to when diabetes patients can look forward to these robotic pills, but it sounds like an interesting advancement in the medical field.
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