New nano-insulin pill could replace injections for diabetics

Indian scientists suggest that people currently controlling their diabetes with daily insulin injections will soon be able to use an insulin pill instead.

Dr. Chandra Sharma of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science & Technology, Kerala, India, says they have discovered a way to protect insulin as it enters the stomach by using an insulin pill coated with tiny nanoparticles and the pill kept blood sugar levels stable for 10 hours.

Dr. Sharma presented the research at a biomaterials conference at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and she says they have found a method of packaging the insulin in nanoparticles which both protects it from stomach acids and also allows it to penetrate through the intestinal wall and then enter the liver and the bloodstream.

Dr. Sharma says worldwide, 40% of the 135 million people diagnosed with diabetes are dependent on insulin and must use painful and inconvenient injections to control their blood sugar levels and the 'nano-pill' is a much more physiological way of delivering the insulin.

The minute nanoparticles are smaller than 100 nanometres across and attract water on the inside and are water-repelling on the outside - when they reach the bloodstream they break down in response to the pH of blood and then release the insulin.

The animal experiments demonstrated that the nanoparticles enter the bloodstream and end up in organs such as the liver and kidney and in diabetic pigs showed the pill containing the nanoparticles led to control of blood glucose after eating.

Experts say while the research is promising, it will be some time before such a pill can be tried on humans.

The research was funded by the Indian government.