When you take a prescription pill, do you know where in your body the medication is being delivered? Is that medication effectively dispersed and are you receiving the correct dosage?
A Denver startup is looking to remove those questions by creating a wirelessly powered smart capsule to deliver medications to targeted areas in your body.
Velóce Corporation is developing the SmartTab drug delivery and monitoring system, a remote-controlled ingestible capsule that contains an electronic receiver, monitor, actuator and active ingredients.
After a career in the pharmaceutical space, founder and CEO Robert Niichel saw an opportunity to mix wireless technology with the antiquated practices still associated with drug delivery.
Starting in 2017, the company began developing the SmartTab, innovating to power an ingestible capsule to deliver medicine. The device has no onboard batteries, is powered conductively and contains a small microprocessor.
Patients taking the SmartTab will wait for the capsule to travel to the correct area of the body, where they’ll be notified on their smart device that the medication is ready for release.
The patient will then release the medication via smart device and the capsule will continue along the digestive system and out of the body.
While it may seem strange to have a hard-shell capsule with a microprocessor passing through your body, Niichel said an increase in innovation in this space will make this process more commonplace.
“There is a flurry of activity with digital devices, people are getting used to this,” he said.
The first targeted commercial application of the SmartTab is Crohn's disease, a bowel disease that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. The company says that traditional medications used to treat inflammation of the colon are not able to reach the colon intact, not releasing at the most beneficial times or location.
With the SmartTab, Niichel said that patients will be able to release medications directly to the colon, thus improving the effectiveness of treatments.
SmartTab has been patented, passed pre-clinical animal studies late last year and is eyeing human clinical studies in the coming months.
From there, the company will continue down the FDA approval track, with a two- to three-year submission period ahead of them.
Niichel said the company is currently raising a Series A round that will allow it to further expand its technology ahead of human clinical studies.
The six-person company works out of RiNo healthcare hub Catalyst HTI and Niichel expects the staff to grow to 20 following the Series A raise.
As they look toward the future, Niichel said he anticipates that the SmartTab, contingent on FDA approval, will eventually be acquired by a larger pharmaceutical company looking for an innovative solution.
“Drug companies are looking for innovative, newer, better delivery systems,” he said.
