Rani Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RANI) took top honors for its RaniPill capsule in the health category of Fast Company‘s 2022 World Changing Ideas.
The RaniPill capsule is about the size of a standard fish oil pill, with a special coating that protects its contents while in the stomach. The capsule contains a dissolvable, drug-filled needle and a unique mechanism that injects the needle directly into the wall of the small intestine, where there are no sharp pain receptors.
The drug is then absorbed into the vasculature of the intestinal wall. After the medication is delivered to the intestinal wall, the remnants of the pill dissolve or are safely passed out of the body.
“Biologics are incredibly effective at treating disease, but needle phobia is one of the barriers to widespread adoption,” Talat Imran, CEO of Rani, said in a statement.
“We want to move biologics earlier in the care continuum, eliminate needles for many chronic diseases, and offer an oral alternative to patients who currently rely on painful, repeated injections,” he added.
The RaniPill capsule is designed to orally deliver a number of biologics, including peptides, proteins and antibodies, and the company has evaluated nearly a dozen molecules in preclinical and clinical studies.
