Drug conversion

One of SRI's major focuses is on the development of pharmaceutical drugs. And within that area, there is a heavy emphasis on figuring out ways to convert existing intravenous drugs to ones that can be taken orally.

This machine is used in the testing of such drug conversions. Researchers at SRI must determine how well a drug makes the journey from a patient's mouth to his or her blood stream, since that trip goes through both the stomach and the intestines.

This machine tests the efficacy of what are called "enhancers," or chemical compounds that help get the drug through the stomach or the intestine.