THIS NEW PILL REALLY PUMPS OUT THE MEDICINE.

This article reports on the development of the Oros pills by Palo Alto, California-based Alza Corp., a pill no bigger than some aspirin with two compartments--one for a drug and, on the other side of a flexible membrane, another containing a chemical with an affinity for water, as of April 1989. In the stomach, the hydrophilic substance pulls fluid into the pill and swells up as it absorbs moisture. That pushes out spurts of medication through a tine hole, one or two drops per hour. The Oros system is being used to deliver doses of an appetite suppressant, and Pfizer Inc. plans to use the new pill for its Procardia antihypertension drug. Alza claims the drug-release rate is not affected by the relative acidity of the digestive tract of a patient, as is the cause with most time-release tablets and capsules. Also, the drug can be release slowly enough to avoid the side effects of many medications.