A Once a Week Pill?

For many people, taking tablets is a disruptive daily ritual. It can prove difficult to keep track of the timings, especially if folk have a chaotic lifestyle. The Lynara Company are attempting to develop a partial solution to this problem (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/11/hopes-raised-for-once-a-week-pills-for-range-of-conditions). The company is trialling a delayed-release capsule that can be taken once a week (and, in future, possibly once a month). The capsule is swallowed, maintaining its intregrity until it reaches the stomach, where its coat dissolves. At this point, drug-containing side arms emerge, attached to a flexible core. This device maintains its shape, preventing its immediate passage into the small intestine. The side arms release drugs, over a fixed time frame. Once the drug is dispensed, the arms to the core dissolve, enabling the device's remains to leave the stomach and pass out with the faeces. Lynara's capsule is currently being tested for its ability to deliver a week's treatment with risperidone (an anti-psychotic drug). The device is also being trialled, in pigs, to deliver contraceptive medications. If the capsule proves successful and gains FDA approval, it will become available in the US by the end of 2024. It will be interesting to see the range of treatments for which a delayed-release pill is deemed cost-effective.