They are creating a method for administering insulin orally to diabetics.
diabetes According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is a chronic disease that affects approximately 422 million people worldwide. It is characterized by increased levels of glucose or sugar in the blood, and many of those affected require treatment. administer insulin daily to monitor these levels. Now a team of scientists has developed a new way to deliver smart insulin to these patients using capsuleor even put it in a piece of chocolate.
“This method of delivering insulin is more precise because it quickly delivers it to the areas of the body that need it most. “When insulin is injected using a syringe, it spreads throughout the body, where it can cause unwanted side effects,” said Professor Peter McCourt from UiT Arctic University in Norway, one of the researchers involved in the study.
Researchers from the University of Sydney and the Sydney Local Health District, in collaboration with UiT, discovered several years ago that drugs could be delivered to the liver through nanocarriers. This method was later improved in Australia and Europe. McCourt explains that the problem with nanocarrier insulin is that it is broken down in the stomach and therefore does not reach the places in the body where it is needed, and this was a problem they had to overcome to develop a diabetes drug that could be taken orally.
The results of the new study were published in the journal Natural nanotechnology and they demonstrate that this problem has been solved by creating a drug whose interior contains tiny nanocarriers in which insulin is encapsulated. The particles are 1/10,000 the width of a human hair and are so small that they cannot be seen even with a regular microscope.
“We created a layer that protects insulin from being broken down by stomach acid and digestive enzymes as it travels through the digestive system, keeping it safe until it reaches its destination, which is the liver,” says McCourt, a liver specialist. biologist.
The coating is broken down in the liver by enzymes that are only activated when blood sugar is high, releasing insulin, which can then act on the liver, muscle and fat to remove sugar from the blood. “This means that when blood sugar is high, insulin is released quickly and, more importantly, when blood sugar is low, insulin is not released,” said Nicholas J. Hunt, from the University of Sydney, who is leading the project. with Victoria Cogger.
Treating diabetes with fewer side effects
The researcher explained that this is a more practical and less invasive method of controlling diabetes for the patient, which significantly reduces the risk of hypoglycemia (a sudden drop in blood sugar) and allows insulin to be released in a controlled manner depending on the patient’s condition. needs, whereas with injections insulin is released all at once.
Its action is similar to how insulin works in healthy people: the pancreas produces insulin, which first passes through the liver, where most of it is absorbed and maintains stable blood sugar levels. In this case, the nanocarrier releases insulin into the liver, where it can be absorbed or enter the blood.
“When insulin is injected under the skin with a syringe, much more of it reaches muscle and fat tissue than would normally be released from the pancreas, which can lead to fat accumulation. It can also cause hypoglycemia, which can be potentially dangerous for people with diabetes.”
Oral insulin has been tested in nematodes, mice and rats. Finally, the drug was tested on baboons at the National Baboon Colony of Australia. “To make oral insulin palatable, we included it in sugar-free chocolate, and this approach was well received,” says Hunt, who explained that the study involved 20 baboons and that when the animals took the drug, their blood sugar levels them was declining. .
The baboons were normal and healthy, but oral insulin was also tested on diabetic mice and rats. These rodents did not experience low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), gain weight, or accumulate fat in the liver, overcoming ongoing problems with injectable insulins and other oral insulins.
“Human trials will begin in 2025, led by Endo’s subsidiary Axiom Pty Ltd. Clinical trials are carried out in 3 stages; In the Phase I study, we will examine the safety of oral insulin and critically analyze the incidence of hypoglycemia in healthy patients and patients with type 1 diabetes. Our team is very excited to see if we can replicate in humans the non-hypoglycemia results observed in baboons. because that would be a big step forward. Experiments meet strict quality standards and must be conducted in collaboration with physicians to ensure they are safe for subjects,” says Hunt.
“After the first phase, we will know that it is safe for people and will explore how it can replace injections in diabetes patients in a second phase of trials,” says the researcher. Researchers hope that the new drug will be ready for use by everyone in 2-3 years.