For many people living with schizophrenia, taking medication every day can be difficult. Forgetting doses, side effects, or simply not wanting to take a daily pill often leads to missed treatments—and that can cause symptoms to return or worsen.
Now, researchers at MIT and Lyndra Therapeutics have created a new kind of pill that only needs to be taken once a week, and early results show it works just as well as daily medication.
The new pill was tested in a Phase III clinical trial and was used to deliver risperidone, a widely used antipsychotic drug. The study found that this once-a-week pill kept drug levels steady in the body and helped control symptoms effectively in patients with schizophrenia. The results were published in The Lancet Psychiatry.
The technology behind this pill has been in development for over a decade. The capsule, about the size of a multivitamin, contains a foldable star-shaped device. When swallowed, the capsule dissolves in the stomach, and the arms of the star expand.
The expanded device becomes too large to leave the stomach, so it stays there and slowly releases medication over seven days. After that, the arms break off naturally and safely pass through the digestive system.
This new approach could solve a major problem in mental health care: medication adherence. Schizophrenia can affect memory, motivation, and thinking, making it hard for people to keep up with daily pills. There are injectable medications that can be given every few weeks, but not all patients like needles or can get to a clinic regularly. That’s why a long-acting oral option is so appealing.
The clinical trial involved 83 patients across five U.S. sites. Each week, the researchers measured drug levels in the patients’ blood and tracked their symptoms using a standard tool called the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).
The once-a-week pill produced steady drug levels that stayed within the target range, and patients’ symptoms remained stable. In fact, drug levels varied less than they usually do with daily pills.
Side effects were minimal—some patients had mild acid reflux or constipation at first, but these problems did not last. Most importantly, no serious side effects occurred during the five-week study period.
“This is a major step forward,” said Dr. Giovanni Traverso, the MIT professor leading the study. “We’ve shown that we can create a pill that stays in the stomach and steadily releases a medication for an entire week. That could make life much easier for many patients.”
Lyndra Therapeutics, an MIT spinout, is now planning larger trials to confirm the pill’s safety and effectiveness before seeking FDA approval. They’re also testing the same technology for other medications, including contraceptives, in future trials.
If successful, this innovation could reshape how people with chronic illnesses take their medication—not just for schizophrenia, but for conditions like hypertension, asthma, and more. A weekly pill could offer greater freedom, better symptom control, and fewer hospital visits. For many patients and caregivers, that could be life-changing.
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The research findings can be found in The Lancet Psychiatry.
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