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Science
Khatcher O. Margossian, MD/PhD Candidate in Polymer Science and Engineering, UMass Amherst

Many drugs can't withstand stomach acid – a new delivery method could lead to more convenient medications

A new polymer could help the medicine go down easier. Hiroshi Watanabe/DigitalVision via Getty Images

For patients and physicians, taking medications orally is often the most desirable way to administer drugs. Among other advantages, swallowing a pill is safer, more convenient and less invasive compared to injections or other ways to take a drug.

But one of the challenges oral pills face is getting digested by the stomach before they can deliver their payloads and carry out their intended effects. Because drugs that are degraded in the stomach are less effective, many treatments are currently unable to be taken by mouth.

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