Scientists progress toward long-acting malaria pill: study

• The research, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, delivered the anti-parasitic and anti-malaria drug ivermectin to hundreds of pigs and dogs via a capsule that temporarily expands in the stomach so it cannot be passed to the intestines until the drug contents are gone.
• It is scheduled to move into human trials next year.
• “We have a lot of confidence in the safety of these dosage forms,” said lead author Andrew Bellinger, formerly a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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• The goal is to boost efforts to eliminate malaria by making it easier for people to get the medication they need, and avoid having to remember a daily pill.
• “Getting patients to take medicine day after day after day is really challenging,” said Bellinger.
• “If the medicine could be effective for a long period of time, you could radically improve the efficacy of your mass drug administration campaigns.”
• Researcher Robert Langer, also of MIT, said the system has a wealth of potential uses.
• A new company, Lyndra, has also been launched by researchers and others to develop the technology for use against neuropsychiatric disorders, HIV, diabetes and epilepsy.
• “Until now, oral drugs would almost never last for more than a day,” said Langer.
• “This really opens the door to ultra-long-lasting oral systems, which could have an effect on all kinds of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or mental health disorders.”
• The capsule is “stable enough to survive the harsh environment of the stomach” and comes in a star-shape with six arms that can be folded inward and encased for easy swallowing.
• Each arm is loaded with medicine, and these arms open and unfold inside the stomach as acid destroys the capsule’s outer layer.
• The star stays inside the stomach as the medicine is gradually released, then breaks apart and travels through the digestive tract.
• The findings are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine

Scientists progress, toward long, acting malaria pill