Health and medicine
A gel against intestinal inflammation
Researchers at the University of Bern have developed a gel that could be used to treat chronic intestinal inflammation more specifically and with fewer side effects.
A drug is usually most effective and best tolerated when it is administered exactly where it is supposed to work in the body. If, on the other hand, it is swallowed or injected, it spreads throughout the body, increasing the risk of adverse effects. Researchers from the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacy and the Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology at the University of Bern have now developed a gel to deliver anti-inflammatory drugs directly to the intestinal wall. Thanks to this innovation, patients with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammation of the intestine, should be helped in a more targeted way and with fewer side effects.