Monoclonal antibodies have revolutionised therapy for autoimmune disease and cancers, but the downside is they require injection or IV infusion.

Patients prefer swallowing a pill, and because of this, doctors may delay initiation of injectable biologics, resulting in suboptimal treatment, researchers say.

But now, scientists and engineers are collaborating in a venture that could change all that – the development of so-called self-injecting capsules.

The technology, called L-SOMA (liquid-injecting, self-orienting millimetre-scale applicator), is essentially an ingestible capsule that contains a liquid pharmaceutical and a retracted needle that pops out to inject the medication into the gastric submucosa, before being retracted again.