Yes, again, because this is not the first time we see similar news, years ago, an alternative to the injected insulin is promised, I hope that this time I reach the market and work well.
A new form of oral insulin, which could soon be tested in humans, can be administered as an alternative to syringes or insulin bombs.
Scientists have developed a way to supply insulin orally, through a capsule or sugarless chocolate, and have successfully tried it in animals.This new insulin will be ready to be tested in humans in 2025. Approximately 61 million people suffer from diabetes in Europe and between 5% and 10% of them have type 1 diabetes, which means that they need to administer insulin to daily to controlYour blood glucose levels.
Some people with type 2 diabetes, more common, also need insulin.According to the International Diabetes Federation, the three most common ways to administer insulin are with syringe, pen or pump.
Researchers at the University of Sydney, in collaboration with the Arctic University of Norway, had previously discovered that it was possible to administer medicines in the liver through nanotransporters."We achieved a subsidy in Australia to study different methods of administration of these drugs to the cells of an aging population. For this we use nanomedicines. So we start using quantum points, incredible materials," explains to Euronews Next Nicholas Hunt, titular teacherof the University of Sydney.
The quantum points are tiny semiconductor particles of a few nanometers."When we used them for the first time, we saw that we could administer drugs very effectively. It could be accurately controlled to which part of the body they were going. It had no unwanted effects and it was really effective," he added.
The idea of creating an oral form of insulin arose after a geriatrician from a clinic with which the researchers work expressed concern for hospitalized elders, which increased the risk of secondary infections, since they needed insulin injections.
"Of course, then it was just a concept. And the key steps we gave later were, in the first place, to validate that insulin could be administered orally," explains Hunt.The team had to develop a special polymer designed to cross the stomach, be absorbed in the intestine and reach the liver.
They set out to design a polymer that responded to the patient's blood sugar levels, which they managed to observe the enzymes that break down the long sugar molecules."If there is a high amount of blood glucose, there is a high amount of those enzymes, and then they degrade the polymer and then release insulin," Hunt explained.Thus, the organism can quickly eliminate the nanomaterial.
"This way of administering insulin is more accurate because it quickly takes it to the areas of the body that need it most. When insulin is administered with a syringe, it spreads throughout the body, where it can cause unwanted side effects," Peter explainsMcCourt, from the Arctic University of Norway (UIT).
This system was tested in mice, rats and babouins, and the team published its results in Nature Nanotechnology.The babouins did not want to take pills, so the researchers tested with jelly and sugarless chocolate, and the babouins preferred the chocolate created in the laboratory."When we did our study with Babuinos, we did it in a way in which it is designed to imitate what would be done in phase I of the clinical trial. The same dose of insulin and the same experimental paradigm," Hunt details.
Currently, attention focuses on manufacturingof the next clinical trial, hoping that it will start at the end of the year.Hunt says that they hope to carry out subsequent trials in 2026, which, if successful, could request the approval of regulatory bodies as very soon in 2028. "We hope that a therapy they can take orally and something with which it does notThey can suffer an overdose ... Allow better glucose control throughout the entire life cycle, "says Hunt, who adds that ingestible insulin does not need refrigeration and remains profitable.
