New progress in insulin pill development
The long-awaited insulin pill could become a reality by the end of the decade.
Two pharmaceutical companies, Novo Nordisk (Denmark) and Oramed Pharmaceuticals (Israel), are close to manufacturing this new type of pill and insulin pills are in clinical trials.
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| Insulin injections are painful and carry the risk of infection. (Photo: alberta.ca) |
Creating a coating for insulin pills that allows patients to take them orally instead of by injection has long been a long-awaited dream for diabetics. Thanks to the coating, the insulin is protected until it reaches the small intestine and is absorbed into the bloodstream, without being destroyed by the acids in the mouth, throat and stomach.
Until now, injecting insulin into the body is considered to be painful and has the risk of infection. Scientists in many countries around the world have actively researched this issue but have not achieved positive results.
Oramed Pharmaceuticals CEO Nadav Kidron said the company's product still has to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is a long process that requires large-scale testing.
The first drug to treat diabetes was discovered in 1922 and to this day there is no drug that can replace insulin. The only difference is in the way the drug is used.
When a patient is forced to undergo several injections every day or, in effect, live with needles in their arms, a more convenient method of drug delivery may cause the patient to turn a blind eye to some of the new drug's shortcomings.
So while diabetics have criticized regulators for being overly cautious with insulin pills, experts agree that the regulations are particularly strict in preliminary trials. After all, “do no harm” is still considered the most important principle in medicine./.
(TTXVN) - VT
