Drug delivery in clinical laboratory settings could become more directly controllable, according to recent lab news reports.
A team of researchers from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, have developed a pill that can be magnetically controlled, allowing the delivery of its drug payload to be influenced from outside the body.
The key to the process is to manipulate the pill, without exerting too much magnetic force on it.
With excessive force, the pill is attracted towards the magnet, rather than being moved in the desired direction - and can damage any human tissue in its way.
The lab news could make for interesting reading for clinical laboratory technicians investigating biochemical processes.
"With this technology, you can now tell where the pill is placed, take some blood samples and know exactly if the pill being in this region really enhances the bioavailability of the medicine," says professor of medical science Edith Mathiowitz.
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