New project approved to further develop the Ingestible
sensor pill
At the beginning of May 2025, the Interreg
Germany-Netherlands project Smart Gut was approved! This project focuses on the
further development of the ingestible sensor pill, the first medical device for
measuring redox balance in the gastrointestinal tract, which may be a new
marker for intestinal inflammation. This innovative technology has the
potential to accelerate the timeline of clinical studies in the future, improve
patient care by allowing for closer monitoring with a simple test, reduce the
number of necessary hospital visits, and contribute to more affordable
healthcare.
Chronic intestinal inflammation is becoming an increasingly
significant public health problem and has profound consequences for patients’
quality of life. This inflammation manifests as persistent activation of the
immune system in the gut, which damages the intestinal mucosa and causes
symptoms such as pain, diarrhoea, blood in the stool, and weight loss,
characteristic of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This condition also
leads to substantial healthcare costs. Improved diagnostics and effective monitoring
of intestinal inflammation are required.
Imec in the Netherlands (locations in Wageningen, Nijmegen,
and Eindhoven) is collaborating with partners Radboudumc (Nijmegen), University
of Münster (UM), airCode (Duisburg), Predica Diagnostics (Nijmegen), and the
umbrella organisation Crohn&Colitis NL. In addition, OostNL and the German
Rheumatism League Bundesverband e.V. are involved as associated partners.The project
runs until the end of April 2029 and has a total budget of € 2,621,409.70. The
consortium is contributing € 1,175,736.28 of its own funds. An amount of €
1,445,673.42 is being implemented in the Interreg Germany-Netherlands program
and co-financed by the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate
Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of
Economic Affairs, the Province of Gelderland and the Province of North Brabant.
For more information, please visit the website: https://deutschland-nederland.eu/projects/smart-gut
