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IIT Delhi Breaks New Ground with Swallow-able Micro-Pill for Diagnostics and Drug Delivery
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Published in Science and Technology on Tuesday, December 16th 2025 at 22:01 GMT by The New Indian Express- 🞛 This publication is a summary or evaluation of another publication
- 🞛 This publication contains editorial commentary or bias from the source
IIT Delhi Breaks New Ground with Swallow‑able Micro‑Pill for Diagnostics and Drug Delivery
New Indian Express – 17 Dec 2025
In a leap that could revolutionise how doctors diagnose and treat gastrointestinal (GI) conditions, a research team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has unveiled a swallow‑able micro‑pill that can sense, analyse and even deliver medication inside the human stomach and intestines. The compact device—just a few millimetres in size and weighing less than 10 mg—harbours a suite of micro‑electromechanical sensors, a miniature microfluidic network, and a wireless transmitter that relays data to a smartphone or a clinic‑side receiver in real time.
The Science Behind the Pill
At the heart of the micro‑pill is a polymer‑based substrate that houses a labyrinth of micro‑channels etched via state‑of‑the‑art 3‑D printing. These channels act like tiny test tubes, sampling luminal fluid as the pill moves through the GI tract. Within the network sit a trio of biosensors: a pH probe, an oxygen‑sensitive electrode, and a micro‑electrode array capable of measuring electrical impedance. Together, they provide a comprehensive snapshot of the stomach’s micro‑environment, a data set that is notoriously hard to capture with conventional methods.
A small, biocompatible micro‑needle—crafted from a shape‑memory alloy—extends from the pill’s tip to collect a microliter of blood when it reaches the jejunum. The needle is designed to retract once sampling is complete, ensuring that the pill can safely traverse the bowel and exit the body within 24 hours.
Data from the sensors are digitised by a low‑power microcontroller, encoded into a narrowband radio‑frequency signal, and transmitted via near‑field communication (NFC) to an external receiver. The receiver can be a clinic‑side base station or a handheld device that links to a patient’s smartphone. A custom app, developed in collaboration with the startup Bharat Biotech, displays the results in an intuitive dashboard, flagging abnormal values for the clinician’s review.
From Bench to Bedside
The research team, headed by Professor Dr. Vikas Kumar of IIT Delhi’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, announced the micro‑pill’s first in‑vivo trials in laboratory mice last month. The animals were given the pill orally, and the device successfully navigated the GI tract, sampling luminal fluid and blood, and returning a full dataset without any adverse events. “The fact that the pill can not only monitor but also sample blood without causing trauma is a major breakthrough,” said Dr. Kumar in a statement. “We are now moving toward larger animal studies and planning a phase‑I human trial within the next year.”
In their peer‑reviewed paper, published in Nature Microelectronics last September, the team highlighted several unique features: a biodegradable magnesium‑based micro‑battery that powers the pill for up to 48 hours, a novel “soft‑circuit” design that protects the electronics from the harsh acidic environment of the stomach, and a modular architecture that allows researchers to swap sensor modules for different diagnostic purposes.
Potential Clinical Impact
The medical community has long recognised the limitations of current GI diagnostic techniques. Endoscopy, the gold standard for visualising the upper and lower GI tract, is invasive, costly, and often uncomfortable for patients. Capsule endoscopy offers a non‑invasive alternative, but its imaging capabilities are limited and it cannot sample tissue.
Enter the IIT Delhi micro‑pill. By providing real‑time biochemical and biophysical data from the stomach, duodenum, and small intestine, the device could facilitate early detection of conditions such as gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, Crohn’s disease, and even colorectal cancer—conditions that are notoriously difficult to diagnose in early stages. Moreover, the pill’s ability to deliver drugs—either in the form of micro‑dose capsules or a controlled release of a polymer‑encapsulated drug—paves the way for site‑specific therapy, potentially reducing systemic side effects.
Dr. Kumar points out that the device could also be invaluable for monitoring patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). “IBD flare‑ups are often triggered by subtle changes in the gut’s micro‑environment. Our pill can detect shifts in pH, oxygen levels, and inflammatory markers before symptoms become severe, allowing for timely therapeutic intervention,” he explained.
Funding, Partnerships, and Future Plans
The project received a ₹3.5 crore grant from the Department of Science & Technology (DST) under the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Programme” (I‑EDP). It also secured a collaborative partnership with Bharat Biotech, a Bangalore‑based medical device startup that has previously developed a biodegradable micro‑tablet for drug delivery. The partnership will focus on scaling up production, refining the wireless transmission module, and conducting regulatory compliance studies.
The team has already filed a provisional patent for the micro‑pill’s design and plans to file a full application within the next six months. In the longer term, the researchers are exploring the possibility of integrating machine‑learning algorithms that can analyse the sensor data in real time, providing predictive analytics that could flag potential complications days before they manifest clinically.
Community and Regulatory Response
While the medical community has largely welcomed the announcement, some experts caution that human trials will need to address several safety concerns, particularly around the durability of the biodegradable battery and the risk of micro‑needle failure. Dr. Anjali Rao, a gastroenterologist at AIIMS New Delhi, said, “The concept is fascinating, but we need to see robust data on long‑term safety and efficacy in diverse patient populations.”
The Indian regulatory body, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), has expressed interest in the device and has indicated that it will work closely with the research team to expedite the review process, given the potential public health impact.
Conclusion
IIT Delhi’s swallow‑able micro‑pill represents a confluence of advanced materials science, micro‑electronics, and biomedical engineering. If the device’s promising pre‑clinical results translate into safe and effective human use, it could herald a new era of non‑invasive GI diagnostics and targeted drug delivery—making it easier for doctors to catch diseases early and treat them precisely, all from a pill that fits in the palm of your hand. As the research community watches with anticipation, the micro‑pill could very well become a staple in the diagnostic armamentarium of future medicine.
Read the Full The New Indian Express Article at:
[ https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2025/Dec/17/iit-develops-swallowable-micro-pill ]
