Human insulin shots are used in Type 1 diabetes patients to control blood sugar, a condition in which the body cannot make insulin, or in type 2 diabetes patients in which blood sugar is so high that the body cannot use insulin normally. Researchers at Yale University, now, has come up with an oral medication that can replace insulin injection and control blood sugar level while reversing the inflammatory effects of the pancreas at the same time.
The oral drug developed by Tarek Fahmy, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University is a much simpler treatment for diabetes patients than insulin or other standard remedy and targets three major issues i.e control immediate blood glucose level, re-establish normal immunity, and restores pancreatic functions.
This is achieved through a nanocarrier made of naturally produced body fluids like bile acids. The carrier works with the loaded agents causing therapeutic effects and re-instating normal metabolism in the short-term and immune competence in the long term. The nanocarrier approach system is a promising new therapy for autoimmune diseases in general.
The new drug eliminates the chances of it breaking down in a patient’s gastrointestinal system due to its carrier nanoparticle and hence safely takes the insulin to the pancreas where it unloads. The nanoparticle is made from polymerised ursodeoxycholic acid, a bile acid that is used to make drugs by dissolving liver stones and gallstones but was not found much effective to treat Diabetes, the release said. But the new drug polymerised bile acids increasing its ability to bind with receptors used for metabolism and making it more effective as a treatment for diabetes.
While treating it on animals, the nanoparticles reversed inflammation, restored metabolic functions, and extended its survival when the cargo of the particles restored insulin levels.
