Novartis AG Steps in Robotic Pills Space

Novartis comes up with robotic pills; collaborating with Rani Therapeutis.

Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE:NVS) recently announced that the company will soon be collaborating with Rani Therapeutics- the California-based startup. The purpose behind this deal to benefit from the company’s oral biotherapeutics drug delivery mechanism. Through this collaboration, the pharmaceutical giant will be making its way in the “robotic pills” space for the first time ever.

This partnership brings the Swiss pharmaceutical giant into a new arena that has immense room for growth. The Robotic Pill technology by Rani Therapeutics is one of a kind and is considered to be a major breakthrough. The collaboration will provide a unique technology to administer drugs allowing Novartis to inject drugs in the patient’s body without the need of using needles.

For instance, the injectable insulin present and many similar biologic treatments are being developed to cure several diseases through oral drugs.

This unique form through which drugs can be induced in a patient can be a major breakthrough in the pharmaceutical sector. This will allow companies to deliver “large molecule” drugs to be easily prescribed orally. Previously several companies have failed miserably and many initiatives to come up with oral medicines have not worked out. So if Rani Therapeutics and Novartis succeed in doing so then they will actually become the pioneers of this industry.

According to the combined agreement by the firm, both these firms will be entering into a new era that will completely transform the outlook of healthcare. Rani has also taken the responsibility to launch several feasibility studies that will help them in evaluating the

The time span to conduct these feasibility studies is said to take a time of almost two years. Once these studies are completed, NVS will have more advantage to collaborate with Rani Therapeutics as it will know the pros and cons of this deal.

The chairperson and CEO of Rani Therapeutics, Mr. Mir Imran mentioned in a statement regarding the matter. According to him, the delivery of large molecule drugs orally can become a great platform for pharmaceuticals. There have been many companies that have tried before them but have failed to a great extent. They currently understand the sensitivity of the issue and reportedly said, “We are confident that our approach has the potential to radically change the way biologics are administered to patients. We are delighted to be embarking on this journey with Novartis, one of the world’s largest and most successful pharma companies.”

Hence, in a nutshell, Novartis and Rani Therapeutics have taken a major step and if they succeed in doing so then the future will be relatively stable for them.