Santos, Cholví and Pascual have developed an enteric capsule for the administration of large molecules, i.e. with a high molecular weight, which once reaches the intestine disintegrates and releases a gel containing the drug.

“Our project is explained, in simple terms, by the taxi theory”, Irene Santos Martínez explains. “Basically, we got a passenger (the big molecule, like a protein, for example) in a vehicle. That vehicle travels all the way through the body and just stops where we want it to”, she adds.

“To explain it graphically, it’s as if we want to take our drug to an arid place and that’s why we ‘protect’ it with a liposome. Then we put it in a taxi, which would be a capsule. It has a mechanism (the coating) which only ‘opens’ once it reaches the intestine. There the ice will be released, which will act as a barrier that will help the liposomes to pass our passenger through the ‘crowd’ that would be the intestinal epithelium”, Saints Martinez explains.

In this sense, the challenge was to create a method to administer, in a controlled manner, large drugs orally, which is traditionally done intravenously. The traditional method increases production costs, the demand for specialised personnel and also forces the patient to travel to health centres with the disadvantage of causing pain and discomfort.

How it all started

Maria Cholví and Irene Santos are classmates and are finishing their degree in Pharmacy at the University of Valencia. They met Lluís Pascual at the Student Association of Young Pharmacists of Valencia (AVESFA). Lluís has also studied Pharmacy at the UV and is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Navarra.

For a couple of months, Professor Ana Melero Zaera, from the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology and Parasitology, joined in to help them develop the idea. “The technological challenge was quite complex and I explained to them the concepts they needed to tackle it”, she explains.

Irene Santos narrates that they could not come together for the realisation because Lluís Pascual carries out his studies and resides in Navarra, “however, we use online platforms to meet and be able to develop the project”, she points out. They started with the project in October 2020 and delivered it in January 2021. They are waiting for the verdict on the winning team to be known.