Insulin in tablets: scientists came close to creating a new form of drug for diabetics

Scientists have developed an effective method of oral administration of insulin without its destruction by stomach acids. In this way, they managed to solve an ancient problem of pharmaceutical science.

The system described in the study can replace the traditional subcutaneous injection of insulin in patients with diabetes. According to experts, this will eliminate the need for injections and make treatment more affordable.

“Imagine that you can take insulin in a pill instead of injecting it a couple of times a day,” said one of the authors of the study, a researcher in the Trabolsi research group at New York University Abu Dhabi, Farah Bennett. – Insulin was placed in a system that protects it from the acidic environment of the stomach. Once in the body, it recognizes the level of sugar in the blood and can release the loaded insulin if necessary.”

Scientists explained that insulin is quite “fragile” – it is easily destroyed by gastric juice when it enters the body. For this reason, creating insulin in the form of tablets is a real challenge.

Bennett said that they managed to create tablets that resemble a sandwich in structure – insulin is placed between layers of nanomaterials that are resistant to stomach acid, but react on sugar.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death worldwide. At the same time, its prevalence has increased fourfold over the past 40 years.

Patients with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin at all, while patients with type 2 diabetes either do not produce enough insulin, or their the body does not react to it. In both cases, in the absence of insulin, the body loses its ability to break down sugar in the blood, which can lead to death, experts explain.