Insulin pill could control diabetes

Wed, 27 Jun 2007
According to the UK company Diabetology, who worked closely with experts at Cardiff University, a new form of oral insulin could be available soon. The firm have solved one of the major problems with oral insulin by coating capsules to protect the drug from stomach acids . The pill can therefore travel all the way into the small intestine, where it can be digested safely.

The researchers plan to present their trial results to the American Diabetes Association. Although details of the research is still under wraps, it is expected that oral insulin (to be taken twice daily) is as effective as injected insulin, the bane of many diabetic lives.

Of the 2 million plus diabetics in the UK, around 700,000 inject insulin, and for this population the news is extremely exciting. The research manager of Diabetes UK, Dr. Iain Frame, reportedly commented: "There are currently 700,000 people in the UK who take insulin injections, sometimes up to four times a day, so being able to take their insulin orally would have a great impact on their quality of life. This research, however, is still in its early stages. We would like to see further results of how the medication might affect people with diabetes who are eating a normal diet ."

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.

Join us