A gastric retentive robotic capsule enables emergency-prepared and responsive oral drug delivery in canine models
Existing oral drug delivery modalities often fall short in medical emergencies due to the absence of readily deployable, internalized drug storage and delivery mechanisms that combine long-term standby with rapid activation. To address this challenge, we develop and validate a gastric retentive robotic capsule capable of autonomously prepositioning multiple drug doses within the stomach upon oral administration. This system maintains quiescence for extended periods while enabling on-demand, remote-triggered drug release within seconds during emergencies. In a canine (beagle) model, we demonstrate safe gastric residence and functionality for at least 10 weeks, including closed-loop emergency drug delivery modulated by external or onboard biometric sensors for unsupervised symptom detection. At the end of its service life, the capsule can be safely excreted on-demand through the administration of an alkaline solution. These findings establish such a system as a paradigm for emergency-prepared and responsive drug delivery, particularly in vulnerable patient populations.
Authors
- Xinge Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0522-1171)
- Qijiang Mao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2322-7385)
- Yidan Lyu
- Kaichen Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4957-3144)
- Haoran Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5400-3042)
- Kewang Nan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2745-0656)
- Ha Uk Chung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3592-8944)
- Zhenlin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2100-1363)
- Yuelong Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0693-2306)
- Xu Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1751-1761)
- Haoyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5065-2937)
- Yunlong Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7030-4171)
- Jian Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3909-6615)
- Di Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2176-2691)
- Hao Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0231-5655)
- Yi‐Xin Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6983-7843)
- Huihui Hu
- Jing Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6891-6771)
- Jun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8475-2934)
Institutions
- Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (CN)
- Department of Health (CN)
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Korea University (KR)
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (CN)
- Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2025-10-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ady6745
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- 3D Printing in Biomedical Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.70
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Medical Science and Technology Project of Zhejiang Province
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
- Science and Technology Program of Zhejiang Province