Scientists Make Advances With Insulin in Pill Form
From Times staff and wire reports
People with diabetes might be able to take insulin in pills rather than shots, using an approach in which the drug is put into tiny plastic beads, a study in mice suggests. The approach might also help scientists plant genes in people to treat disease, researchers said.
Normally, insulin taken by mouth would be destroyed by digestive juices and not absorbed by the intestine. The mouse experiments used plastic beads smaller than the width of a human hair. The beads protected the insulin and delivered it to the bloodstream. The insulin escaped as the plastic disintegrated.
Edith Mathiowitz of Brown University and colleagues demonstrated the approach in the March 27 issue of Nature.
