Australian scientists have designed a new capsule that means diabetics could swallow insulin instead of injecting it. There are also potential uses for
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, resulting in little or no insulin secretion. Therefore, type 1 diabetics, and some of her type 2 diabetics, need to inject insulin several times a day.
Many diabetics use two types of insulin: fast-acting and slow-acting. Fast-acting insulin is absorbed quickly after injection and is used to control blood sugar levels during meals and snacks and to correct hyperglycemia. Long-acting insulin, on the other hand, is usually given once a day. Absorbed slowly, it provides ‘background’ levels of insulin to control blood sugar throughout the day.
A team of scientists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, has developed a new oral capsule that can deliver insulin. This is a promising new way of administering drugs.
Insulin is made up of smaller versions of proteins called peptides. Previous attempts to develop orally administered insulin have found that the harsh pH levels in the gastrointestinal tract degrade peptides and render the drug ineffective. Other protein pharmaceuticals face the same problem.
To circumvent this problem, scientists encapsulated insulin in lipid-based nanomaterials placed within an enteric capsule. Protect.
“The capsule has a special coating designed to prevent it from degrading in the low pH environment of the stomach, and the high pH levels of the small intestine cause the capsule to dissolve.” We package it, which helps camouflage the insulin so it can cross the intestinal wall.”
Scientists tested the performance of the capsules in animal studies using fast-acting and slow-acting insulin.
Rapid-acting insulin capsules were well absorbed, but were impractical because the time to onset of insulin effects was significantly delayed compared to delivery by injection. More promising results were obtained using slow-acting insulin capsules.
“We had excellent absorption results with the slow-acting formulation, approximately 50% better than the same amount of insulin delivered by injection,” said Charlotte Conn, corresponding author of the study. “Our results show real promise for using these oral capsules as they may enable people with diabetes to take slow-acting insulin in addition to fast-acting insulin injections.” increase.”
The scientists say their capsule design is a “promising starting point” for the non-invasive delivery of insulin and could be used to deliver other protein drugs such as antibiotics and monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancer. says.
They plan to refine the design and develop a method of dosing over a specific period of time before moving to human trials.
The study was published in a journal Advances in biomaterials.
Source: RMIT University
