in the gut to reveal the needles

A pill bristling with tiny needles could provide a new way to take injections in the future.

The Microneedle Pill (mPill) has a series of fine needles on it that allow drugs contained within the capsule to be delivered directly into the blood stream.

This means patients could take swallow medication that would otherwise require an injection, such as insulin and would also allow oral drugs to act far faster than they currently do.

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology student has revealed the mPill (shown). It is an ingestible device that is covered in needles. The pill has a coating that dissolves when it reaches your gut. The needles then deliver medication directly into your blood stream

The device was created by graduate student Carl Schoellhammer and his team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The invention has now been awarded $15,000 (£9,600) from the Lemelson-MIT Program, which awards funding to groundbreaking student research.

HOW THE MPILL WORKS The Microneedle Pill (mPill) is coated with hollow needles. When the pill reaches the desired location in the digestive tract, the pH-sensitive coating surrounding the capsule dissolves, allowing the drug to be released. Their prototype acrylic capsule, 0.8 inches (2cm) long and 0.4 inches (1cm) wide, includes a reservoir for the drug and is coated with hollow, stainless steel needles about 5 millimeters long. Because there are no pain receptors in the GI tract, patients would not feel any pain from the drug injection. Advertisement

The ingestible capsule is 0.8 inches (2cm) long and 0.4 inches (1cm) wide. It is filled with the medication a patient requires, and is then swallowed.

The microneedles, 0.2 inches (0.5cm) long and made of stainless steel, are stored beneath a coating that dissolves when the pill reaches the gut, revealing the needles.

The digestive tract of the body then squeezes the drugs out, releasing them directly into the blood stream.

Once the pill has delivered the necessary medication, it will be excreted from the patient 'without any adverse events.'

Because there are no pain receptors in the GI tract, patients would not feel any pain from the drug injection.

Applications of the pill include being used to deliver insulin to patients, or pediatric growth hormone deficiency - a costly disorder that usually requires daily injections.

This approach could also be used to administer vaccines that normally have to be injected, the researchers say.

The ingestible capsule is 0.8 inches (2cm) long and 0.4 inches (1cm) wide. It is filled with the medication a patient requires, and is then swallowed. The device was created by graduate student Carl Schoellhammer, pictured holding the prototype mPill

Mr Schoellhammer said the pill was based on approved dimensions for ingestible devices, such as ingestible cameras.

He told Forbes that it was designed to deliver 'injections from the inside.'

To test whether this type of capsule could allow safe and effective drug delivery, the researchers trailed it in pigs, with insulin as the drug payload.

It took more than a week for the capsules to move through the entire digestive tract, and the researchers found no traces of tissue damage from the pill as it passed through the gut.

They say this supports the potential safety of this novel approach.

The microneedles are stored beneath a coating that dissolves when the pill reaches the gut, revealing the needles. The digestive tract of the body then squeezes the drugs out, releasing them directly into the blood stream (shown in illustration)

Mr Schoellhammer said he came up with the idea because injections are 'painful, invasive, and require trained personnel for administration.'

In addition, many drugs simply cannot be swallowed as a regular pill, as they are broken down by enzymes in the digestive system before they are absorbed in the blood.

He said that the pill could be available in three to five years, with another version using needles made of sugar also in development.

He also revealed a second invention, the Ultrasound Probe (uProbe), which uses ultrasound to physically drive medication into tissue in the GI tract in a safe, painless manner.

Other winners in the Lemelson-MIT Program included a device to provide respiratory support to infants and an advanced 3D printer that can work without human interaction.

'It is both incredible and inspiring to learn of the societal contributions being made by our Student Prize applicants and winners,' said Dorothy Lemelson, chairman of The Lemelson Foundation.