A new approach to protecting insulin from the aggressive environment of the digestive tract will soon make a tablet form of the hormone a reality.

Scientists have been looking for decades to deliver insulin to patients without constant injections, but digestive system enzymes break down insulin, and low absorption in the intestine does not contribute to a predictable and stable therapeutic effect..

The current inhaled insulin and transdermal insulin patches have their drawbacks, as pointed out by Dr. Sanyog Jain of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research of India..

To overcome old barriers, Dr.

Jain and his colleagues packaged insulin into liposomes and then protected the particles with polyelectrolyte layers..

To top it all off, the scientists added folic acid to the particles to speed up the transport of the drug through the intestinal wall..

In experiments on rats, the new insulin delivery system effectively lowered blood glucose levels, keeping them at the desired level much longer than conventional injectable insulin..

Indian researchers reported this recently in the journal Biomacromolecules..

medbe. en.