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MIT scientists develop vibrating pill to treat obesity

January 3, 2024

Current therapies to treat obesity require invasive surgical interventions or injectable medications that are cost-prohibitive for many. Previous research has shown that applying a vibration to a muscle can induce the sense that the muscle has stretched farther than it has. Engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have applied this concept to obesity, developing an ingestible, vibrating pill that, when swallowed, induces stretch receptors in the stomach wall to send a message to the brain that the stomach is full. The study, led by Shriya Srinivasan, Ph.D., a former MIT graduate and current assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard University, appears in the journal Science Advances and was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Novo Nordisk, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, a Schmidt Science Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation. (Trafton, 2023)

What’s the potential patient impact?

Current therapies for obesity require invasive surgical and endoscopic interventions or medications that necessitate high patient adherence. In an interview in Science Alert, Srinivasan explains that, as is often the case with all things medical, there are costs and benefits to the various solutions. “For a lot of populations, some of the more effective therapies for obesity are very costly. At scale, our device could be manufactured at a pretty cost-effective price point.” (McRae, 2023)

What’s the evidence?

Srinivasan’s team developed the Vibrating Ingestible BioElectronic Stimulator (VIBES), a capsule the size of a multivitamin that includes a vibrating element. When the pill is swallowed and reaches the stomach, gastric fluids dissolve the gelatinous membrane surrounding the pill and activates the vibrating motor. The vibrations induce the mechanoreceptors and stroke mucosal receptors, which elicit a hormonal metabolic response commensurate with a fed state. (Srinivasan, 2023)

The researchers tested the pill in 10 Yorkshire pigs across 108 meals to determine safety, duration, and effectiveness at reducing food intake. Each animal swallowed the VIBES pill 20 minutes before eating. Not only was the pill associated with a rise in hormone release patterns that indicate satiety, but the pigs that had ingested the pill consumed 40% less food and gained weight more slowly (P <0.05) than the control group. The swine did not experience any adverse events such as obstruction or perforation, and the pills successfully passed through their digestive tract within four to five days. (Srinivasan, 2023)

The team is now looking to increase the device’s operating time and scale its design for clinical trials in humans. If it has a similar effect, researchers say that VIBES could offer a revolutionary way to treat obesity. (McRae, 2023)

Sources:

McRae, M. (2023, December 28). Science Alert. Revolutionary vibrating weight loss pill could reduce food intake by 40%. https://www.sciencealert.com/revolutionary-vibrating-weight-loss-pill-could-reduce-food-intake-by-40

Srinivasan SS, et al. (2023, December 22). Sci Adv. A vibrating ingestible bioelectronic stimulator modulates gastric stretch receptors for illusory satiety. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38134286/

Trafton, A. (2023, December 22). MIT News. Engineers develop a vibrating, ingestible capsule that might help treat obesity. https://news.mit.edu/2023/engineers-develop-vibrating-ingestible-capsule-1222