Suono Bio, Inc. Secures Exclusive Patent Option Granted by MIT for First-in-Kind “RoboCap” Electromechanical Oral Drug Delivery Pill

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Suono Bio, the company reimagining targeted drug delivery of novel medicines through ultrasound-mediated delivery, has secured an exclusive option agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) covering the first-in-kind “RoboCap” oral pill intellectual property. This IP encompasses devices and methods for enabling oral delivery of biologics and other medicines through a single use oral capsule.

Co-invented by Institute Professor Robert Langer and Professor Giovanni Traverso, the intellectual property discloses designs and methods to transiently displace the mucus layer throughout the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract to facilitate improved absorption of drugs beyond small molecules. The technology demonstrated the ability to deliver insulin in preclinical porcine models in vivo achieving a corresponding hypoglycemic response.

This work will bolster Suono Bio’s ultrasound-mediated delivery technology allowing it to expand the development of formulation-independent oral drug delivery devices and methods that could hold the ability improve therapeutic response achieved from current and future standard of care drugs including mRNA-based oral medicines. The company recently announced positive results from its First-in-Human study of ultrasound in the GI tract providing the company with a unique expertise base from which to develop and commercialize an electromechanical oral pill device.

“This agreement will allow us to expand our oral drug delivery program in new and exciting ways, with the potential to reach across a variety of potential indications," said Scott Kellogg, CEO of Suono Bio. “We have the distinct capacity to modulate where we deliver drug to, including intracellularly, which allows us to take a per-indication or asset approach to develop a new, broad range of oral therapeutics that could be utilized across a range of potential therapeutic solutions.”

About Suono Bio

Suono Bio is a clinical-stage company developing novel treatment options to enable the topical and oral delivery of biologics and genetic medicines in a formulation-independent manner. For more information, please visit www.suonobio.com.