Expandable Ingestible Pill for Intestinal Wall Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ingestible capsules for medication delivery in the gastrointestinal tract face challenges in ensuring effective contact and absorption of medications at the intestinal wall, as they often lack efficient mechanisms for sustained contact and uniform delivery.
Innovation Solution
The development of an ingestible pill with an enteric coating that dissolves in the small intestine, featuring a medication-delivery device with a patch and needles that expand to ensure good contact with the intestinal wall, allowing for enhanced medication uptake and delivery through penetration or adhesion, utilizing pH-sensitive coatings and shape-memory materials for controlled expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of moving object
If the capsule is designed to dissolve in the gastrointestinal tract, then medication delivery is enabled, but the capsule cannot maintain structural integrity for sustained contact with the intestinal wall
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule is divided into two functional components: an enteric coating layer that dissolves after gastric passage, and an inner core containing the medication-delivery element. This segmentation allows the coating to provide temporary structural integrity during transit while the core maintains its shape for sustained contact with the intestinal wall after dissolution of the coating.
Solution Approach 2:
The medication-delivery element is pre-compressed into a compact form that fits within the capsule during ingestion. Upon dissolution of the enteric coating in the small intestine, the element automatically expands to its operational configuration, establishing sustained contact with the intestinal wall without requiring additional action from the subject.
2Reliability
If the capsule expands to ensure good contact with the intestinal wall, then medication absorption is improved, but the capsule may obstruct food passage
Solution Approach 1:
The medication-delivery element is designed to expand locally at the site of intestinal contact, forming a flattened configuration with a large surface area that ensures reliable medication delivery. This localized expansion occurs only after the element has passed through the stomach and entered the small intestine, where it contacts the intestinal wall and delivers medication without obstructing normal food passage through the digestive tract.
3Ease of operation
If the capsule is compressed for ingestion, then it is easy to swallow, but the surface area for medication contact with the intestinal wall is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The medication-delivery element transitions dynamically from a compressed state during ingestion to an expanded state upon contact with the small intestine. This dynamic transformation allows the element to be easily swallowed in a compact form while subsequently expanding to provide a large contact surface area for effective medication delivery to the intestinal wall.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enables sustained and efficient delivery of medications by ensuring prolonged contact with the intestinal wall, improving absorption rates and minimizing residual medication, while maintaining the pill's ability to pass through the digestive system without obstructing food passage.
Implementation Method 1
an enteric coating configured to dissolve in a small intestine of the subject
Implementation Method 2
utilizing pH-sensitive coatings and shape-memory materials for controlled expansion
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 2C~2D
AI summary
An ingestible pill (1220, 1320) is provided including a medication-delivery device (1224, 1324), which is configured to deliver a medication (52) and includes a patch (1230, 1330) (a) having upper and lower surfaces (1232, 1234) that face in generally opposite directions, (b) disposed within an enteric coating (22) in a compressed shape (1242), (c) configured to assume an expanded shape (1244) after the enteric coating (22) dissolves. The patch (1230, 1330) includes a chamber (1270) defined by (a) a substantially water- impermeable and substantially gas-impermeable, elastic layer (1274) shaped so as to define at least one window (1276) therethrough, and (b) a liquid-permeable and substantially gas-impermeable wetting layer (1278), which entirely covers the at least one window (1276) and is sealed to the elastic layer (1274) around the at least one window (1276). The patch (1230, 1330) further includes, disposed within the chamber (1270), a gas-generating substance (1280) that produces gas upon contact with liquid. Other embodiments are also described.