Controlling a pill as it moves through a patient's body could let doctors deliver drugs to precisely the right location—for instance, a tumor in the colon.
Researchers at Brown University have now demonstrated a way to safely control a maneuverable pill and watch as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract.
Aside from looking for traces in a patient's bloodstream, it is hard for doctors to tell if a drug has been delivered properly. "You can take X-rays [of tagged pills], but you can never really know what time the drug was released," says Edith Mathiowitz, an associate professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University and principal investigator on the project. Mathiowitz's team, which focuses on creating better drug-delivery technologies, originally built a magnetic tracking system to observe pills as they pass through the body. But the researchers soon realized they could control the pills as well.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Steering Pills Safely - Technology Review
Author: Kristina Grifantini
