Much effort and research has been invested in finding an alternative, less painful way, to treat patients with diabetes. For years, the only method patients had to deliver insulin was by injection. However, a team of scientists discovered a technology that has the potential to revolutionize this old school way of thinking. What if I told you a company is developing an orally ingestible soft gel insulin capsule? Naysayers, allow me to introduce you to my latest find: Oramed.
Up until now, the idea of insulin in a pill was inconceivable due to the fact that insulin, which is a protein, breaks down in the digestive system. However, Oramed's patented technology overcame the problem of digestion as well as permeability to the intestine with a few organic whistles and bells. This has been a major hurdle that has inhibited the development of orally ingestible insulin for decades. Prof. Hanoch Bar-On, a leading Diabetologist, states that the route of the insulin from the swallowed pill "imitates nature" in that it passes to the liver and then to the bloodstream. Injected insulin goes straight to the bloodstream.
Oramed Pharmaceuticals' is an Israeli based company. They received the green light from the Israeli Ministry of Health, as well as the Hadassah Medical Center Institutional Review Board for phase 1 clinical trials of oral insulin in healthy humans. Here's the million dollar question for card-carrying US citizens with type 2 diabetes taking insulin injections: if you could downshift to an easier to swallow means of managing your diabetes, would you?











1. Will this work on chronic diabetics who have had type 1 diabetes for a long time? I have had type 1 diabetes for well over 50 years (am now on a pump) and would like to know how this will work with me.
Posted at 3:46PM on Sep 19th 2006 by Ruth