Devices for oral delivery of therapeutic compounds

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide ingestible devices, formulations and methods for the delivery of drugs and other therapeutic agents within the gastrointestinal tract. Certain embodiments provide swallowable devices, such as capsules, for drug delivery into the intestinal wall or other lumen of the digestive tract. Embodiments also provide various drug formulations configured to be contained within a capsule, propelled from the capsule into the intestinal wall, and degraded within the wall to release the drug to produce a therapeutic effect. The formulation can be coupled to a delivery mechanism having one or more balloons or other expandable devices that can be expanded in response to conditions in the small intestine or other lumen of the digestive tract to release the formulation from the capsule into the intestinal wall. Embodiments of the invention are particularly useful for the delivery of drugs that are poorly absorbed, poorly tolerated, and / or degrade in the gastrointestinal tract.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims the benefit of US Patent Application Serial No. 13 / 837,025 (Attorney Docket No. 42197-715.501), filed March 15, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Background technique [0003] Embodiments of the present invention relate to swallowable drug delivery devices. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to swallowable delivery devices for delivering therapeutic agents to the small intestine. [0004] Although new drugs for treating various diseases have been increasingly developed in recent years, many drugs including proteins, antibodies, and peptides are limited in application because they cannot be taken orally. This is due to a number of reasons including: poor oral tolerability with complications including gastric irritation and bleeding; breakdown / degradation of the drug compound in the stomach; and poor, slow or erratic absorption of the drug...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Conventional alternative drug delivery methods such as intravenous and intramuscular delivery have a number of disadvantages including: pain and risk of infection from needle sticks; need to use sterile technique; needs and associated risks

While other drug delivery methods such as implantable drug delivery pumps have been employed, these require the device to be implanted semi-permanently and may still have many of the limitations of intravenous delivery

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