These scientists want to give patients medicines wrapped in silk Defillama

For centuries, Thailand has produced premium silk fabrics, exported around the globe.

However, biomedical researchers at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok have found another use for the fiber: to deliver medicines into the body.

Drug delivery systems come in many forms, from capsules and tablets that are swallowed, to skin patches, ointments, and different kinds of injections.

According to Juthamas Ratanavaraporn, director of Chulalongkorn University’s biomedical engineering research center, silk fibroin — one of the natural proteins that gives silk its incredible strength — can be used to encapsulate a drug in a sac-like form that takes much longer to break down than other natural proteins like gelatin or chitosan, slowly releasing the drug into the body.

“Instead of needing large or frequent doses, the protein capsule can release the drug gradually, in the appropriate amounts needed by the body. This controlled release helps reduce the overall dose and the risk of side effects,” says Ratanavaraporn.

Ratanavaraporn, who has been studying silk for more than 17 years, spun out her research into a company in 2021 with two other professors from the research team. Their startup, EngineLife, is commercializing their research — and took its first product, a treatment for insomnia delivered through a patch placed on the skin, approved by the Thai FDA, to market earlier this year.