Hemophilia, a disease that once required extensive medications to treat, may soon be treatable with a simple pill. 

Last November, Nicholas Peppas, UT biomedical engineering professor and the director of UT’s Institute for Biomaterials, worked with a team of graduate students to discover a new way of treating hemophilia B. Hemophilia B is a hereditary disease in which blood doesn’t clot normally because the body lacks the blood clotting protein IX.

“We don’t want little kids and adolescents that are suffering from hemophilia … to suffer through continuous injections,” Peppas said. “We were trying to find alternative ways for them to take medicine.” 

Sarena Horava, lead author and former biomedical engineering graduate student, said the implications of the capsule treatment are far-reaching. 

“While an oral delivery platform will be beneficial to all hemophilia B patients, patients in developing countries will benefit the most,” Horava said in a University news release. 

In comparison to the treatment by injection, the capsule treatment reduces the cost and the number of difficulties that come with injecting medicine.  

“In many developing countries, the median life expectancy for hemophilia patients is 11 years due to the lack of access to treatment,” Horava said. “But our new oral delivery of factor IX can now overcome these issues and improve the worldwide use of this therapy.” 

Peppas and Horava have patented their oral delivery of human factor IX, a protein that helps clot blood, as a treatment for hemophilia B patients. 

The two said this system of delivering the protein is designed to take advantage of changes of the body’s acidity levels and changes in enzymes inside the digestive tract for a smooth and effective delivery. 

Peppas said the capsule is able to protect its contents from the acidic enzymes of the stomach. He said that after traveling through the stomach, the capsule then swells in the small intestine because it is more acidic. The enzymes in the small intestine then degrade the capsule, causing the protein to be released. 

Peppas and his team of researchers will continue testing the capsule for efficiency and conducting more trials before clinical use. 

Peppas said the capsule must meet more regulations before the Food and Drug Administration approves the technology. 

“(The capsules) have to be stable, last a long period of time and they cannot be destroyed by saliva,” Peppas said. “This is not going to be an easy task.”