I don't take insulin but if I ever need to a pill will be easier to swallow


New drug for diabetics could end ordeal of daily insulin jabs




On trial: A pill to boost the body's own production of insulin, potentially making jabs redundant

On trial: A pill to boost the body's own production of insulin, potentially making jabs redundant

A pill that can boost the body's own insulin production could banish daily jabs for millions of people with diabetes.

The drug is about to be tested on 155 British patients as part of a trial that could transform treatment of the disease.

It is an oral form of Victoza, a medicine already approved for use in diabetes, which 'turbo-charges' insulin production in the pancreas, the organ responsible for making the hormone.

But in its current form, it has to be injected.

If trials are successful, it could mean many diabetics are freed from the burden of daily injections to make up for the body's inability to make enough insulin.

Diabetes affects an estimated 2.6 million people in Britain.

It develops when the pancreas stops producing insulin altogether or its output drops sharply.

The body needs insulin to help muscle cells absorb glucose from our diets and use it as fuel for energy.

Without the right levels of insulin, glucose levels can build up. This can cause long-term irreversible damage to the kidneys, eyes, nerves, heart and major arteries.

Type 1 diabetes affects 400,000 people in Britain and often starts in childhood. The pill is unlikely to replace daily insulin jabs for these patients, as this form of diabetes often destroys the pancreas beyond repair.

But it could help more than two million others who have Type 2 diabetes, a much more common condition that tends to affect people from middle age

Health experts fear that Britain faces an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes as a result of the rise in obesity in recent years.

Though some sufferers manage to control Type 2 diabetes through diet and exercise, many end up needing insulin jabs or drugs to boost their body's own insulin production.

Victoza, launched in Britain last year, belongs to a new class of medicines called glucagonlike peptides.

These drugs, which are injected at the same time every day, send out a signal for the pancreas to increase insulin output when blood sugar levels have risen too high.

They also help by triggering weight loss. One major trial last year suggested that they are almost twice as effective as some other anti-obesity drugs.

But the fact that patients still need to inject themselves is seen as a potential barrier to its widespread use.

Now Novo Nordisk, the company that makes the drug, has turned it into a pill and is

recruiting 155 patients in Britain to try it out in a trial, which is expected to last a year.

If it works, it could mean simply popping a tablet once a day instead of painful injections. However, there have been concerns that the drug might raise the risk of thyroid cancer.

Drug companies are spending millions of pounds investigating diabetic treatments that can be swallowed instead of injected.

A number of research teams are looking at how insulin can be encapsulated into a pill, so Type 1 diabetics might also be able to throw away their syringes.

The big problem is how to ensure it survives the harsh, acidic environment of the stomach long enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream.

Inhaled insulin - where the hormone is breathed in from a hand-held device - was expected to transform treatment when it was launched in Britain in 2006.

But poor uptake prompted the manufacturer, Pfizer, to withdraw it less than two years later.

Libby Dowling, care adviser at Diabetes UK, said the British trial could have major implications for diabetes treatment.

'This could be a significant step forward in the development of less invasive treatments,' she says.

'A pill version of glucagon-like peptides would improve patient choice and could mean a huge improvement in quality of life.'
Rhubarb could improve blood sugar levels and lower cholesterol

Diabetes benefit: Rhubarb could improve blood sugar levels and lower cholesterol

⢠A stick of rhubarb may help tackle diabetes.

New research shows that compounds found in the pink stalks can have a substantial effect on blood sugar levels and improve glucose tolerance.

It's thought the active ingredient is a compound known as rhaponticin, say the researchers from the Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, China.

Animal tests showed the fruit could also help lower cholesterol levels.

Mice with diabetes had reduced blood levels of triglycerides (fats in the body) and low density lipoprotein, also known as bad cholesterol - high levels of this can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

'These results indicate they have a noticeable anti-diabetic effect and could be potentially used as a new agent to treat Type2 diabetes and its complications,' say the researchers.