Novo?s Insulin Pill Quest is Holy Grail for Novo: Health

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Northerner

Northerner

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Type 1
Jackie Chaline needs four shots of insulin a day to survive. The 66-year-old Frenchwoman, who was diagnosed with diabetes 16 years ago, says switching to a pill would be a form of liberation.

?Swallowing a tablet would make such a difference,? says Chaline, a former public transport agent who has gotten about 9,000 insulin shots in the past seven years.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOB) is trying to make Chaline?s wish, and those of millions more like her, come true. Vying with other drugmakers to develop what could be one of the biggest blockbuster drugs in years, the company is spending at least $2 billion to make an insulin pill hardy enough to cheat the body?s own defense mechanisms and deliver insulin to the bloodstream.

?The odds of making it were a million to one five years ago,? says Novo Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. ?Are we getting closer to a 50-50 scenario? Absolutely.?

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-22/novo-s-insulin-pill-quest-is-holy-grail-for-novo-health
 
What a waste of money!
Surely absorption from the stomach / intestine would be even les predictable than absorption of injected insulin- would do nothing to reduce hypo or hyperglycaemia
"Smart insulin" i.e insulin which acts according to blood glucose levels, or investing in technology so that pumps get more affordable or strips cheaper ( so people are more likely to get adequate amounts on prescription- would be a far better use of funding surely
 
Abi said:
What a waste of money!
Surely absorption from the stomach / intestine would be even les predictable than absorption of injected insulin- would do nothing to reduce hypo or hyperglycaemia
"Smart insulin" i.e insulin which acts according to blood glucose levels, or investing in technology so that pumps get more affordable or strips cheaper ( so people are more likely to get adequate amounts on prescription- would be a far better use of funding surely
Click to expand...

It does make me wonder sometimes if the people who make the decisions are basing them on the perception that the majority of people are needle-phobic, or that it is the pain of injections that is the big problem with being insulin-dependant, when in fact I barely feel anything - the BIG problem, as you say, is getting the doses right to match the rise and fall of levels. Smart insulin would certainly be the way to go for me! 🙂
 
Yup - 'closed loop' pump and CGM.

With a pill, you'd be back to the 'eating to the insulin' scenario AGAIN, wouldn't you?
 
trophywench said:
Yup - 'closed loop' pump and CGM.

With a pill, you'd be back to the 'eating to the insulin' scenario AGAIN, wouldn't you?
Click to expand...

I think that it is intended for people who need a basal only, although even there, there can be a great variety of dose requirements and hard to imagine how they would configure the pills - equivalent 1 unit per pill? Some people would need 200 pills a day 😱 Although I don't quite understand how it would work as a basal unless it was like levemir rather than lantus.
 
[QUOTE unless it was like levemir rather than lantus.[/QUOTE]

Not sure I understand this bit - can you explain?
Although I do wholeheartedly agree that this is just 'playing to the press', not of much value to the vast majority of people with diabetes. They want to think it will solve everything??
 
So what happens if you have a tummy bug and throw up? DKA as the pill/insulin is no longer there?
 
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