Scientists in Australia have found a new oral substitute for daily insulin injections to help treat people with diabetes.
Erik Helmerhorst, professor at Curtin University, and colleagues analysed three million compounds on pharmaceutical databases over a ten-year period to try and emulate the molecular map of insulin. They found one, and are developing it to "take the needle out of diabetes ".
"Our innovation is the development of a new chemical entity, a small drug molecule we have discovered and developed, that can be taken orally as a tablet to replace insulin per se," said Helmerhorst.
He claimed there was a niche market for their oral drug to target type 2 diabetics to help delay the onset of insulin dependency, as many patients are not keen on having insulin delivered via injections or pumps.
According to Helmerhorst, 95 per cent of diabetics have type 2 diabetes, and the reality is that nearly one-third of these patients "will end up needing insulin therapy at some stage" in their life.
New Oral Insulin Drug In The Pipeline
Mon, 07 Nov 2011
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