Acupuncture now in a pill

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A Singapore government-backed biotechnology firm says it is on track to developing an acupuncture pill, claiming to have put the traditional Asian method of using needles to address various physical ailments into a tiny capsule.
Tests on the pills are ongoing, and the pill is initially designed to cure migraines by “mimicking the effects of acupuncture”, Molecular Acupuncture chief executive David Picard said.

Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years in many parts of Asia, where it’s believed that pricking a patient with stainless steel needles in strategic places helps nerve and circulatory functions. Oriental medicine views disease as a physical expression of imbalances in the body. Acupuncture and other treatments are designed to restore such balances.

By the end of the study in 2006, scientists would have collated blood samples from over 1,600 migraine sufferers in Singapore and China that will help identify genes and proteins that react to acupuncture, Picard said.

“The research is focused on understanding, from a biological standpoint, what acupuncture does in our body,” he said.

The pill is designed to simulate a biological reaction similar that of acupuncture needles, he said.

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