A Revolutionary Pill Could Soon Replace Insulin Injections

Insulin Injection
Source : diabetesselfmanagement

According to a university press release, scientists at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have created an insulin tablet that can be taken orally and functions just like the injectable (insulin injections). This opens the door for a cutting-edge approach to treating diabetes patients.

Fredrick Banting, a Canadian surgeon, was the first to isolate insulin in 1921, which made it possible to treat diabetes. Since then, diabetes has been treated with up to four daily insulin injections.

The source of insulin has changed over the course of a century thanks to scientific advancements. Banting isolated insulin from dogs, but insulin can now be produced from yeast and E.coli. However, the method of administration of the hormone remains the same. This is not the most convenient method of treatment.

The problems with swallowable pills

Researchers have tried to avoid insulin injections by developing alternative treatment methods such as swallowable pills and even drinkable insulin. However, these efforts have had limited success because much of the insulin ingested in this manner accumulates in the stomach.

Insulin needs to get to the liver quickly in order to affect blood glucose levels effectively. Insulin that is ingested can take 2-4 hours to reach the liver, which is extremely slow in comparison to insulin that is injected, which can reach the liver in as little as 30 minutes and is available for 2-4 hours.

The availability rate of oral tablets produced by UBC researchers now matches rate of injected insulin.

How did the researchers do it?

The researcher created an insulin pill that dissolves in the mouth between the cheek and the gums in order to accomplish this. The mucosal membrane, a thin membrane found in the lining of the inner cheek and behind the lips, is used by the pill.

Bypassing the stomach entirely, this membrane enables direct insulin delivery to the liver. This not only makes the insulin quickly available, but it also prevents the loss of insulin that occurs when it passes through the stomach.

Researchers have been using 500 international units (IU) of insulin in a single dose, as opposed to the 100 IU of insulin that is used in an injection per shot to compensate for the loss that occurs when insulin is swallowed. The UBC researchers found that almost all of the insulin from the tablets went straight to the liver and none went to the stomach during their experiments on rats. The UBC researchers’ dissolvable tablet has the added benefit of preventing insulin from being wasted as it way to the liver.

Changing the way insulin is administered will also reduce the amount of medical waste created by the injections that end up in landfills.

The dissolvable pill still needs to be tested on people by the researchers. If everything goes according to plan, a new era of affordable, sustainable diabetes treatment may begin.

The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.