By Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick
Twitter: @drnic1
Host of Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist – #TheIncrementalist
On this episode I talked to Doug Miller, PhD, Chief Technology Officer for SmartTab (@veloce_smarttab) a company developing an advanced platform of ingestible capsules for oral drug delivery of biologics and targeted medications.
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Doug started out in avionics but quickly found himself in the world of healthcare focused on drugs and drug delivery mechanisms. At SmartTab they are rethinking the process of how we deliver medication to people with a range of novel solutions that can target delivery in a specific part of the body’s gut and offering novel ways to deliver injectables in tablet form that normally cannot be ingested because the molecules would be digested by our bodies.
Their technology is autonomously carrying a range of sensors that allow the location of the pill to be determined with sufficient accuracy to allow targeted location-based therapies. These onboard sensors are powered by a lithium battery and the whole unit is designed to withstand the hostile environment of our gut that is designed to dissolve and breakdown the food we ingest
We review the technology and how they can determine the location and the process of delivering targeted therapy to a specific location which ends with a command issued by the onboard processor to:
Open the Pod Bay Doors
Listen in to hear the challenges of overcoming safety concerns associated with ingesting technology of any kind, and the challenge of dealing with the corrosive acidic environment in the body’s GI system. As Doug points out it is not just protecting the technology and device but also confirming the delivery of therapy.
About the Show
For years Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick, has served as a voice on the impact of new technologies on healthcare, earning a reputation as a leading authority on where the future of medicine is going. Combining powers of observation and real world experience, Dr. Nick has seen many predictions come true and makes the case that innovations in healthcare can be accomplished incrementally, not just by moonshot events. Tune in to hear Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist and his guests discuss what the future of healthcare looks like, how we will get there, and what it will take to improve healthcare for all.
This article was originally published on the Dr. Nick – The Incrementalist blog and is republished here with permission.