Your daily pill could one
day be replaced by a once-a-week version.
PavelKant/Shutterstock
Eventually, we might be able to consider daily pills a
thing of the past.
That's the vision of Lyndra, a company developing
technology that transforms daily pills into weekly
treatments.
The hope is by taking a pill only once a week, you're
less likely to forget a dose, something that's critical when
treating conditions like HIV.
One day, a daily prescription will feel as outdated as not having
an answering machine.
That's the vision of Amy Schulman, CEO of the startup Lyndra.
Lyndra's developing pills that can be taken on a weekly basis
instead of once a day.
"I imagine a world where my children's children will say to me,
'I don't understand — you took a pill every day?' And it will be
as inconceivable to them that I took a pill every day as it is to
my children that I had to argue with their grandparents over
getting an answering machine," Schulman said.
An estimated $100
billion of avoidable medical costs are attributed to
people not taking their medications as prescribed. And for many
daily treatments, skipping a pill can be a major issue that leads
to the drug not being as effective in the long run or even
developing resistance to the medications in the case of
HIV.
Lyndra CEO Amy
Schulman
Courtesy
Lyndra
Lyndra was founded in 2015 after the Gates Foundation
provided a grant to Massachusetts Institute of Technology
professor Bob Langer to develop a long-acting malaria prevention
treatment. In 2017, the company raised $23 million in funding to
get into human clinical trials.
While the pill technology could be used for any number of daily
medications, to start Lyndra's focusing in on a few areas. Those
include neurologic conditions like Alzheimer's disease in
partnership with Allergan, behavioral conditions, and one day
potentially developing longer-acting treatments for diabetes or
cardiovascular disease.
And in January, the company showed
that in animals it could deliver commonly-used HIV
medication on a weekly basis, rather than needing to take it
every day.
How a starfish-shaped pill could change the way we take
medication
The weeklong pill might look like any other vitamin or pill you
take that comes in a capsule. What's different is what's inside.
Once the pill hits the stomach, the capsul dissolves and the pill
opens up with six biodegradable arms that fold out in the shape
of a starfish and emit the drug.
"Like most great solutions, once you figure it out it's really
simple," Schulman said.
Lyndra isn't the only company trying to figure out how to make
people more adherent to their medications. That includes coming
out with
injectable versions that only require you to take it once or
twice a month, and
implanted devices. But those pose their own challenges,
since they can be more invasive or require more medical attention
than a simple prescription.
Especially when it comes to treating HIV, access to a clinic
where you might be able to get an injection could be limited,
Schulman said.
"People would by and large prefer
to take a pill," Schulman said.
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