Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spurred by a challenge from Bill Gates, developed a star-shaped drug capsule that can gradually release medication and stay in the stomach for to 2 weeks after being swallowed. The study, published yesterday in Science Translational Medicine, described the team’s work using the device to deliver an anti-parasitic drug, invermectin, which could help fight malaria.
The pill has 6 arms that are folded inwards, protected inside a smooth capsule. Drugs are loaded into each arm, which is attached to a core by a linking mechanism that eventually breaks down.
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