[ti:Researchers Develop Long-Term, Drug Release Capsule]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.20]Researchers have developed a long-lasting capsule that,
[00:04.12]when swallowed, slowly releases medicine into the body.
[00:09.76]The researchers say the capsule was developed for treatment of the disease malaria.
[00:17.16]But they believe it could hold medicines for a number of health problems.
[00:22.76]Once inside the stomach, the plastic capsule opens up
[00:29.36]to release the drug in small, measured amounts.
[00:34.08]The plastic is designed to resist the stomach's acidic environment.
[00:41.00]The device breaks down after about two weeks
[00:45.40]and is expelled with waste products.
[00:49.44]At that time, a patient would swallow another drug-containing capsule.
[00:55.76]Researchers have tested capsules filled with the drug ivermectin on pigs and dogs.
[01:03.84]Ivermectin is used to treat parasitic organisms.
[01:09.60]It kills mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite.
[01:15.48]Scientists are now designing a program to test the capsule in people next year.
[01:22.92]The scientists work with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[01:27.92]and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts.
[01:32.60]They decided to test ivermectin because of what they saw
[01:38.00]when it was used to treat river blindness in Africa.
[01:43.24]Many people there have malaria infections.
[01:48.08]Ninety percent of malaria cases worldwide
[01:52.00]happen in countries south of the Sahara Desert.
[01:57.08]Researcher Giovanni Traverso works at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
[02:02.80]"What was observed was that malaria would transiently drop.
[02:07.40]And so what we proposed was, you know,
[02:10.20]¡®what if we could increase the period of time
[02:14.12]during which individuals could have ivermectin in their system
[02:19.60]really to help suppress the mosquito population in those regions?'"
[02:24.44]Researchers say the capsule could possibly be filled with ivermectin and another drug
[02:31.84]to decrease the number of malaria infections.
[02:37.36]The World Health Organization says only about half of people in the West
[02:43.88]and 30 percent of those in developing countries
[02:48.80]take their medicine every day when told by doctors to do so.
[02:55.52]A computer model estimates that the capsule
[02:58.84]could increase that number to 70 percent.
[03:03.48]Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Andrew Bellinger agrees.
[03:09.84]"You can take advantage of the fact that patients don't have to be reminded every day
[03:13.48]that they need to take their medicine.
[03:14.88]They can remember once a week to take their medicine
[03:17.27]and then live normally the rest of the time."
[03:19.96]Researchers say the capsule could be used
[03:23.04]to treat emotional disorders, diabetes,
[03:27.12]and cardiovascular and kidney diseases.
[03:32.08]A study on the capsule and its development
[03:35.24]was published in the journal, Science Translational Medicine.
[03:40.36]I'm Christopher Jones-Cruise.