I’ve written about Bob Langer (most recently here), one of the smartest guys I know. Today, I’ll talk about someone I don’t know- but is a pretty prolific medical innovator.
Mir Imran came to America from India 40 years ago to study electrical engineering and biomedical engineering at Rutgers. He also almost finished med school, when his first calling to develop a implantable defibrillator came.
Since then, he’s formed many companies and developed devices in a wide range of fields. Now, he’s officially attached to one entity (but that’s only officially)- InCube Labs, which has spun off a new company- Rani Therapeutics, LLC. And, while he is also an investor in other companies, his current idea is backed by Google and VentureHealth (a crowdfunding site). And, what an idea it is.
We can’t take a lot of medicine orally because our stomach acids would destroy them (drugs for diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple scleroris are the first targets) before they were absorbed by our body (in the intestines). Which is why many drugs are only available as injectables.
But, Imran has other ideas. He has packaged a drug in an ingestible polymer, with a few twists. One twist is to have this device contain sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. Which react together when the ingestible polymer is abraded away by stomach acids. (Our stomach pH is incredibly low.)
And when combined, these two compounds release carbon dioxide, whose pressure provides the energy to inflate a “ballon” comprised of sugar needles that are preloaded with drugs. And, those needles “stick” the wall of the intestine. (It is very convenient that there are no pain receptors in the intestines.) The rest of the device passes through the intestines and is eradicated with our feces.
So, now we wait for the next step in its development. Hopefully, coming very soon to a pharmacy near you!
