According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, more than 29.1 million people in the United States are living with diabetes, which makes research for treating the disease critical.
Earlier this week, researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara presented work they are doing to develop an intestinal patch device containing insulin that can be swallowed in the form of a capsule.
The device has proven to be effective in the blood glucose management of laboratory rats.
Insulin formulations currently on the market are all in injectable forms; there are no ingestible forms available.
The patches were developed by Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D., a professor in the College of Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara, and Amrita Banerjee, a postdoctoral fellow. They are mucoadhesive polymers loaded with insulin and an intestinal permeation enhancer that have been placed in patch devices that were put into enteric-coated capsules.
"We've created a technology with several innovative features," Mitragotri said. "Our mucoadhesive devices fit inside of a small capsule and then deliver the drug in the intestine in a very effective manner."
