Oral insulin tablets see a breakthrough

A game-changing discovery has been made by a team of University of British Columbia researchers working on replacing daily insulin injections in the form of oral insulin tablets.
The researchers have found that injected insulin is absorbed by rats in the same way that insulin from the newest version of their oral tablets is.
The principal investigator from the faculty of land and food systems, professor Dr Anubhav Pratap-Singh, has stated, “These exciting results show that we are on the right track in developing an insulin formulation that will no longer need to be injected before every meal, improving the quality of life, as well as mental health, of more than 9 million Type 1 diabetics around the world.”
According to a senior fellow in Dr Pratap-Singh’s lab, one hundred per cent of the insulin from the tablets goes straight into the liver, compared to previous attempts to develop drinkable insulin, where a majority of the insulin would collect in the stomach.
First author of the study and a PhD candidate working closely on the project, Yigong Guo, has stated, “Even after two hours of delivery, we did not find any insulin in the stomachs of the rats we tested. It was all in the liver, and this is the ideal target for insulin — it’s really what we wanted to see.”
Injections can be uncomfortable and inconvenient for diabetes patients regarding insulin delivery. But with several other oral insulin alternatives also being developed and tested, the UBC researchers worked to solve where and how to facilitate a higher absorption rate.
For the study to go into human trials, Dr Pratap-Singh says they will need more collaborations, funding and time. But beyond the evident potential benefits to diabetics, he says the tablets could also be more accessible, cost-effective and sustainable.