usher the sugar from foods you eat into cells for use as fuel. People with diabetes often lack enough insulin to meet the body’s needs, though the exact cause varies depending on the type of diabetes.
An oral insulin hasn’t been available, because insulin gets digested in the stomach, Mitragotri said.
But injectable forms – which can be delivered by a needle or through a small tube inserted under the skin and attached to an insulin pump – are painful, which can lead people to skip their medication, he noted.
To develop an oral insulin, the researchers had a number of challenges. If an oral insulin got past the stomach’s acid, the intestines presented another issue. Insulin is a large molecule, and the intestinal wall is a barrier for most large molecules, the researchers explained.
The first step in moving past these barriers was to put insulin in an ionic liquid, which Mitragotri likened to liquid salts. The insulin-ionic liquid combination was then covered with a coating that allows the pill to pass through the stomach intact. It’s then dissolved in the small intestine.
From there, the oral insulin travels to the large intestine. With the help of the ionic liquids, the insulin molecules can get through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream.
One benefit to this form of insulin is that it’s more shelf-stable than injectable insulin. Current insulins are good for about 28 days once they’re out of the fridge. But the oral insulin is good for