Patent ID: 8691269

Claim:
An orally administrable polymer-carrying unit for expanding in a stomach of a mammal to fill a space in the stomach, the polymer-carrying unit comprising: (a) a carrier having an outer surface and an inner surface, the inner surface forming an internal cavity; (b) at least one fiber for releasably attaching at least one permeable sac to the carrier, the at least one fiber being threaded into or through the internal cavity of the carrier so that at least one segment of the at least one fiber is located within the internal cavity, the at least one permeable sac containing therein at least one polymer molecule that is expandable in the presence of an aqueous solution, the permeable sac allowing liquid contained in the stomach to enter the sac and expand the at least one polymer molecule so that the unit is retained in the stomach; and (c) a decoupler located in the internal cavity for non-invasively decoupling the at least one permeable sac from the carrier by cutting the internal segment of the at least one fiber so that the at least one permeable sac is released into the stomach and can now exits the stomach through normal peristaltic movement.