Design of a large-dose minimally invasive drug delivery device for Tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) affects millions of people all over the world, and in India has an incidence figure of about 2.8 million individuals annually. The TB treatment regime is quite involved, generally requiring six months and multiple medications. A lack of medication adherence can lead to drug-resistant TB. One current method to improve adherence requires the medicine to be dispensed multiple times a week at directly observed treatment (DOT) clinics, a practice which is neither convenient for patients nor completely effective for purposes of adherence. A suite of technologies is being developed to introduce a large-dose drug delivery device into the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This device would release a discrete amount of drugs every day over the course of a month. The device would be deployed into the stomach through a short-term nasogastric tube placement, and the device would be removed and replaced with a new device after one month. The medication required for a month of treatment can be transferred into a drug delivery device in the stomach via a standard nasogastric tube. Testing conducted on this medication transportation process has showed that 1 month's worth of medication can be placed into a device in the stomach in 7 minutes. In addition to device design, a series of questionnaires are being implemented to ask TB doctors and patients about the feasibility and acceptability of short-term nasogastric tube usage for TB treatment. This device and treatment method has the potential to assist in eradicating TB and allow millions more convenient and effective TB treatment.