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The future of insulin: Pills, patches, weekly formulation could change diabetes management

By Ivan Gutierrez, Life, Health and everything in between.


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Ivan Gutierrez
Life, Health and everything in between.


December 30, 2020

Today, there are six main types of insulin produced by the three insulin manufacturers serving the U.S. market, each varying by onset, peak and duration of action: rapid-acting, short-acting or “regular” insulin, intermediate-acting, long-acting, ultra-long acting, and “premixed” insulin, a combination of intermediate and short-acting formulations. A fast-acting insulin aspart injection (Fiasp, Novo Nordisk), described as the only mealtime insulin without a premeal dosing recommendation, was approved for children with diabetes as young as age 2 years in January.

Promise of insulin pills

Oral delivery is the simplest and least invasive way to deliver many pharmaceuticals, but many agents, including insulin, cannot survive passage through the stomach or the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, Grunberger said.

Inhaled insulin

An inhaled rapid-acting mealtime insulin (Afrezza, MannKind), approved by the FDA in 2015 to improve glycemic response in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, is known for its ability to address postprandial hyperglycemia, Grunberger said. The drug, which starts working 12 to 15 minutes after inhalation, was approved nearly a decade after the first FDA-approved powdered native human insulin (Exubera, Pfizer) was withdrawn from the market in 2007 due to low sales.

Smart’ insulin patch

In February, researchers from UCLA, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and MIT announced the successful test of a smart insulin-delivery patch that could one day monitor and manage glucose levels for people with diabetes and deliver the necessary insulin dose.

Weekly formulation

PhaseBio is developing PE0139, a so-called super-long-acting basal insulin for people with diabetes dosed as a once-weekly injection. PE0139 is a fully mature, native insulin molecule (B and A chains) genetically fused to an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) biopolymer. The compound is manufactured using PhaseBio’s ELP-based Escherichia coli expression system, where refolding of the drug occurs naturally in the cytosol, according to the company.

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Sherryl Apostol

Very helpful article. Thank you Dr. Ivan for a very informative article.

June 10, 2020. 01:35 PM





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