10 Feb 2019

Soma- The Injection Capsule That Should Be Swallowed

Posted in All That Matters By attemptnwin On February 10, 2019

Soma is a drug capsule that can be swallowed by a person, which on reaching stomach will inject medicine to stomach wall. The test device is expected to be a substitute for injections. The device can be used to deliver oral doses of insulin by replacing the traditional injections through skin. At present, patients with type 2 diabetes have to give themselves insulin injections every day. Soma can also be used in treatment of cancers and other diseases.

How does Soma inject insulin?

The test drug capsule is developed by an MIT-led research team. The drug capsule, tentatively named Soma is about the size of a blueberry. At present many medicines are made of molecules which are too big to be absorbed through the stomach or intestines. Further, the digestive system is highly powerful and degrades any drug immediately. Hence such drugs are required to be injected. The researchers have now found an alternate solution. In this method, the drugs will be provided in a capsule which can be swallowed by patients. This device has the shape of a tortoise shell. A miniature post made of insulin rests inside the drug capsule. After the device positions itself against the stomach wall, the post pops out and injects insulin. The device then travels through the colon and is eventually eliminated.

Who were behind the development of Soma drug capsule?

The research paper was published in the journal Science. According to the researchers, the device worked well in rats and pigs. During testes, the researchers were able to deliver enough insulin to the test animals. The test doses of insulin were sufficient enough to lower blood sugar to the level that can be achieved through injections given via skin. According to researchers and experts, Soma can be adapted to deliver other protein drugs. Researchers are from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Novo Nordisk, the well-known pharmaceuticals company. They are confident of testing Soma in humans in three years.

What is the mechanism behind Soma capsule?

Bioengineers have been on continuous attempts to develop an alternative mechanism for injections. The researchers were aware that if a drug could be delivered through the wall of stomach, the medicine would enter bloodstream. The stomach has not many pain receptors and a prick from inside stomach would not even felt by the patient. Some comes as the integration of ideas taken from various researches.

The researchers wanted a device that would land on the stomach in a predictable way and they identified the shape of leopard tortoise suitable for this purpose. An angled shell is that helps the tortoise roll back onto its feet irrespective of the way of fall. The tiny device Soma would always land on the wall of the stomach. The next step was in developing the cue to trigger the release of tiny post of insulin. The tip of the needle consists of nearly 100 percent compressed and freeze-dried insulin. All parts of the capsule are made of biodegradable material. Inside the capsule, the needle is attached to a compressed spring that is held in place by a disk made of sugar. When the capsule reaches stomach, sugar disk gets dissolved by water. This action releases the spring causing the needle to inject the medicine into the stomach wall.