People suffering from digestive tract disorders such as Chron's disease, colitis, and colon cancer are treated with drugs that can have side effects, some merely unpleasant but others potentially harmful. Because these treatments are whole-body doses, it's impossible to localize the drug where it will do the most good and then provide the proper amount of medication.
However, there is a new treatment technology on the horizon that promises to deliver the drug directly to the disease site and, equally important, minimize many of the side effects. You may ask, “What does this have to do with me, an engineer?” Well, let me explain. This new technology is the iPill.
In development at Philips Research, the iPill is about the same size as a regular pill at 11 mm x 26 mm and is taken with food and water just like any other capsule. But the similarity ends there. The iPill, for intelligent pill, is a microprocessor-based device jam-packed with a whole array of electronic components that provides location information as well as drug delivery control. Besides the microprocessor, there is a temperature sensor, pH sensor, wireless transceiver, fluid pump, drug reservoir, and battery in the iPill.
Once swallowed, body temperature information from the temperature sensor is transmitted via the transceiver to an external control unit. The pH sensor provides location information as the iPill travels with the food from the mouth to the stomach and beyond. The pH value increases significantly as the iPill leaves the stomach and becomes more acidic after the small intestine. Again, this pH data is transmitted to the control unit and recorded. Correlating the pH data and the typical time it takes the iPill to travel through the digestive tract provides a fairly accurate position of the pill at any time. Additionally, control signals can be transmitted to the iPill to coordinate or modify an event.
Before the pill is ingested, the microprocessor is programmed to provide drug delivery at a specific location or locations as it journeys through the digestive system. The fluid pump and drug reservoir can accommodate a variety of delivery profiles including bursts, continuous, or multilocations. By dispensing only the minimum drug dosage necessary to treat the disease at a particular site, unpleasant or harmful side effects can be eliminated or likely significantly curtailed.
As noted on the company's website at www.research.philips.com, a prototype of the iPill has been completed and functionally tested. Microprocessor programming and measurement capabilities have been demonstrated as well as accurate drug delivery.
I envision the next evolution of this technology might be the rPill, or robotic pill. Under computer control, the rPill would have a deployable movement mechanism that would enable medical personnel to precisely walk the pill to the appropriate disease site. An onboard microcamera would provide real-time viewing capabilities. Drug delivery could be optimized at the site.
And this could be a not-too-distant reality. Engineers—bio, robotics, electronic, mechanical, and others—naturally will design and develop such a device. They also will make sure it works to specification. Because that's what engineers do.
Paul Milo
Editorial Director
[email protected]