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ɫ���� engineers have created a pill that could effectively deliver insulin and other injectable drugs, making medicines for chronic illnesses easier for patients to take, less invasive, and potentially less expensive.

Along with insulin, it also could be used for semaglutide — the popular GLP-1 medication sold as Ozempic and Wegovy — and a host of other top-selling protein-based medications like antibodies and growth hormone that are part of a $400 billion market.

These drugs usually have to be injected because they can’t overcome the protective barriers of the gastrointestinal tract. ɫ����’s new capsule uses a small pressurized “explosion” to shoot medicine past those barriers in the small intestine and into the bloodstream. Unlike other designs, it has no complicated moving parts and requires no battery or stored energy.

“ introduces a new way of drug delivery that is as easy as swallowing a pill and replaces the need for painful injections,” said , who created the pill in his lab with former Ph.D. student Joshua Palacios and other student researchers. 

In animal lab tests, they showed their capsule lowered blood sugar levels just like traditional insulin injections.