Pill that detects early signs of diseases, including cancer

MANILA, Philippines – Some medical exams are not comprehensive enough to detect the early stages of many forms of cancer. With regard to the setback, Google is currently experimenting on a pill that can identify any disease before it even gets worse.

The project, which is the latest effort to emerge from Google's X lab, was announced Tuesday.

According to the AP, Andrew Conrad, head of life sciences at Google X, described the project during an appearance at a tech industry conference organized by the Wall Street Journal. He said the team working on the nanoparticle project includes a cancer specialist and other doctors, as well as electrical and mechanical engineers and an astrophysicist who has been advising on how to track the particles through the body.

The pill, which is filled with tiny magnetic particles will travel through the patient’s bloodstream once ingested. As it flows, it will look for any malignant cells and immediately report the findings to a wearable sensor device. Data from the sensor could be uploaded or stored on the Internet until it can be interpreted by a doctor.

With this kind of technology, the doctors will have a broader view and a more in depth analysis of what is going on inside a patient’s body. The effort to develop a better way to detect cancer was inspired by the experience of Google engineer Tom Stanis after being diagnosed late with a kidney tumor.

While the project seems to be promising, the company said it could be a decade before the research pays off.