Many serious gastrointestinal disorders such as Crohn's disease require medications that need to reach the large intestine to be effective. But these drugs might be broken down or digested by the stomach before they reach their target. A new "smart" drug capsule may solve this problem.
The smart capsule is an electronic drug capsule that has been engineered to deliver medications directly to the colon. Delivering the medications directly to where they are needed could offer a more effective and cheaper option for treating people with gastrointestinal conditions, according to the researchers at Purdue University in Indiana who invented it.
It takes about 8 hours after the capsule has been swallowed for it to reach the large intestine. The capsule, which is about the size of a penny, has two parts, one carrying the medication and the other housing electronics that trigger the release the drug. A magnetic marker that can be worn at the waist or implanted under the skin triggers the release as the capsule approaches the right position in the large intestine.
The researchers designed the magnetic switch to ensure that electromagnetic signals such as those emitted by cell phones do not trigger capsule separation. This targeted drug delivery system could potentially make drug treatment for a variety of gastrointestinal disorders, including Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome, more effective.
The capsule can also be used to treat Clostridium dificile infections, which can cause sufferers to experience abdominal pain and diarrhea that can last months and which can be life-threatening. Recent research has found that C. dificile infections can be treated with a fecal transplant that carries healthy intestinal bacteria to correct the bacterial imbalance in the colon. Future research may find a way for the healthy bacteria to be delivered by smart capsule.
The Purdue University team is currently working with a private biomedical company in an effort to start clinical trials. You can watch a short video here that shows the smart capsule emitting dye in a tube.
