Goodbye insulin shots. Here come the pills. A new drug delivery system was developed at MIT for people with type 2 diabetes
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousGoodbye insulin shots. Here come the pills. A new drug delivery system has been developed at MIT for people with 2 type diabetes.
It is a special capsule to be swallowed when needed. About the size of a blueberry, it contains a small needle made of compressed insulin, which is released only when it reaches the stomach.
In designing its shape, the researchers drew inspiration from the leopard tortoise. It lives in Africa and has a very particular characteristic: its carapace is high and steep, pyramidal. This allows her to straighten up easily when she rolls onto her back.
How the capsule works
Inside it contains a needle attached to a compressed spring, held in place by a disc made of sugar. When the capsule is ingested, imitating the turtle, the capsule is able to find the correct position in the dynamic environment of the stomach and to straighten itself, to reach its walls. At that point, stomach fluids dissolve the disc by releasing the spring and injecting the needle into the wall.
There are no pain receptors in the stomach, so the researchers believe patients would feel nothing after ingesting the capsule.
In tests carried out, MIT scientists have shown that they can provide enough insulin to lower blood sugar on a par with classic injections. They also believe that the device can be used to administer other drugs.
"We are very confident, this new type of capsule will one day help diabetic patients and perhaps anyone who requires therapies that can now only be given by injection or infusion," explains Robert Langer, professor at the David H. Koch Institute, a member of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and one of the authors of the study.
Together with his colleague Giovanni Traverso, Langer had been working for years on a pill coated with tiny needles capable of injecting drugs into the lining of the stomach or small intestine. For the new capsule, however, the researchers looked for a different solution, in which there was only one needle, with a tip made of 100% compressed lyophilized insulin.
Once in the stomach wall, the insulin dissolves at a rate that can be controlled by researchers when preparing the capsule. Finally, after releasing its precious content, it passes harmlessly through the digestive system as it is biodegradable.
A completely new technology
For Maria José Alonso, professor of biopharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, it is a "radically new technology" that could benefit many patients.
“We are not talking about incremental improvements in insulin absorption, which is what most researchers in the field have done so far. This is by far the most realistic and impactful technology disclosed for the oral delivery of peptides ”.
However, another 3 years will be needed before the tests on humans.
The study was published in Science.
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Francesca Mancuso
