Currently, RNA drugs must be injected because digestion destroys them, but scientists have developed a special protective shell that allows these medicines to be taken by mouth. Once swallowed, the protected medicine survives the stomach and is absorbed by immune cells in the gut, which act like tiny delivery trucks carrying the drug through the bloodstream for up to three days. In animal trials, a single oral dose of an anti-inflammatory RNA drug successfully protected hearts after a heart attack and reduced lung inflammation just as effectively as a traditional injection. While this specific method only works for drugs designed to target the immune system—since it relies on those gut immune cells for transport—this breakthrough paves the way for easy-to-swallow pill treatments for a wide variety of inflammatory diseases.