Imagine a medicine that can safely travel through the harsh acid of the stomach and release itself only at the right place inside the body. In a major breakthrough in healthcare materials, a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai, comprising Swarup Maity, Sudipta Paul, Sandipan Ghosh, and Dr Sanjay Kumar Gupta, led by Dr Sanjib Banerjee, have developed a revolutionary smart drug-delivery material designed to protect medicines in the stomach and release them in a controlled way inside the intestine. This innovation could improve the effectiveness, safety, and future design of oral medicines. Many medicines taken by mouth lose their effectiveness because the highly acidic environment of the stomach damages them before they reach the place where they are needed. To solve this long-standing challenge, the IIT Bhilai team developed a smart carrier that works like a protective vehicle for medicines. The material remains stable in stomach acid, protecting the medicine from early damage.

 

Once it reaches the intestine, where conditions change, it automatically opens and slowly releases the medicine at he desired location. What makes this research particularly novel is that the material is ‘smart’. It can sense changes inside the body and respond accordingly. The material also has a built-in glow, allowing scientists to track the carrier’s path and its behaviour within the body. This feature may help researchers better understand how medicines move and improve future treatment systems. In laboratory and animal studies, the material successfully protected medicines under stomach-like conditions and released them slowly over time rather than all at once. This controlled release may improve treatment effectiveness while reducing unwanted side effects. “This research takes us one step closer to smarter and more precise medicines. Our goal is to develop systems that can protect medicines, release them at the right place, and improve patient safety and comfort,” said Dr Sanjib Banerjee. This landmark work has been published in the internationally reputed journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, solidifying its impact on the future of smart drug delivery systems.