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Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a pill that can deliver insulin and similar injectable drugs. These drugs normally can’t survive the digestive system, so they must be injected. This capsule solves that by using a pressurized reaction to shoot the drug into the small intestine wall, bypassing enzymes and mucus. The pressure builds using a mix of water and baking soda, then bursts through a small weak point in the gelatin capsule.
The medicine gets directly near blood-absorbing cells before enzymes can destroy it. In tests on animals, the capsule reduced blood sugar just like injected insulin. The capsule’s outer shell is made of strengthened gelatin, and it can be manufactured using existing pill-making methods. The team published their study in the Journal of Controlled Release.
This technology could also be used for semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and other protein-based drugs. They are now trying to improve how much of the drug gets absorbed and are testing it with other medicines. The idea came from Prausnitz’s earlier work on microneedles, but this method replaces the needle with a fast burst inside the body.
