Microinjectors for Controlled Cross-Barrier Drug Delivery in the Gastrointestinal Tract

The gastrointestinal tract is a desirable target for drug delivery because it acts as a gateway to the body through intestinal uptake mechanisms and because it is preferred by patients leading to better outcomes. While ingestible devices have been developed to enable delivery of drugs at specific locations in the intestinal tract using various methods, one undeveloped area of gastrointestinal drug delivery is controlled release from devices operating in the intestinal tract. In this work, a versatile combination of semiresident injection technologies has been developed to allow tunable drug delivery of >5 μL with half-lives between 4 s and 118 days. The injectors rely on a previously developed ingestible actuation technology to deploy into the intestinal tissue and prompt dosing across the mucosal barrier. The injectors are composed of a hybrid 3D-printed reservoir and microneedle structure with variable material and geometric properties to enable tailored dosing. The demonstrated technology provides a framework for higher-level control over drug delivery using advanced fabrication techniques to achieve versatile and advantageous structural properties.