Future pills will be electronic
The digital world we live in will connect with the biological world, Martin Fussenegger is convinced. His vision: In 50 years, electronic pills will cure us.
Medicine has been using the same therapeutic concept for centuries: If we feel bad, we go to the doctor and he prescribes a pill that we have to take three times a day. The doctor determines the dose of medication based on our body weight. This concept has several disadvantages: We always go to the doctor when we are already sick. The dosage of the medication is imprecise. And with many therapies, although we try to get symptoms under control, we often do not cure the disease itself.
Bio-electronic implant
I would therefore venture a thesis: In the distant future, we will no longer swallow classic pills that do little, and with which we will probably not be able to eliminate all existing Health problems can solve. Rather, the pills will be electronic in 50 years. They will consist of a capsule that we can have implanted under our skin. On the one hand, the capsule contains designer cells that monitor our metabolism and can take corrective action via the production of proteins and metabolites.
On the other hand, the capsule contains electronics that control the designer cells and enable a connection to the outside world. Doctors will be able to adjust the function of the electronic pill via their smartphone, and if necessary they will be able to intervene. Such electronic pills will combine diagnosis and therapy. Therapy will be initiated immediately and will take place in the individually correct dose. In this way, we will be able to nip metabolic diseases in the bud.
Molecular prostheses control metabolism
Initial research successes in this direction have already been achieved. In our group, we have been researching and developing so-called molecular prostheses for years. Prostheses are known from mechanical problems: If we can no longer walk, if a tooth falls out or hair falls out, we make do with prostheses to replace what is missing. Prostheses can also be developed for malfunctioning biochemical processes. These would be reprogrammed cells that take over the function of defective cells in the body.
These designer cells could one day produce enough insulin for diabetics, regulate other people's fat metabolism so that they do not become overweight, or prevent the growth of tumor cells at an early stage. The cells would detect disease and immediately initiate therapy by producing metabolites. When the therapy is completed, the cells would revert to standby mode.
A type of cell therapy that is still simple in comparison can already be used: In August, Novartis received approval in the United States for a new form of leukemia therapy for which patient-specific cells are genetically modified. These modified cells sense tumor cells in the blood and destroy them. Novartis' genetically modified cells don't yet have the complexity of a molecular prosthesis that we have in mind, and they don't yet have feedback control. Nevertheless, it is a huge step to genetically reprogram a cell to achieve a therapeutic function.
Biology and electronics communicate
In electronics, development is moving even faster, and our bodies are already networked with the digital world. We wear motion sensors that record our sleep, count our steps and calculate calorie consumption. There are also research projects that determine blood sugar levels and other health parameters in tear fluid and body sweat. Finally, there are insulin pumps for diabetics that are electronically controlled and pacemakers that can be adjusted from outside the body.
In the coming decades, these developments will be compared with those on the molecular level can connect, and the biological world will communicate with the electronic world in both directions.
Text: ETH
