KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): A team of University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers working on developing oral insulin tablets as a replacement for daily insulin injections have made a game-changing discovery.

In a statement on Aug 30, UBC said researchers have discovered that insulin from the latest version of their oral tablets is absorbed by rats in the same way that injected insulin is.

UBC principal investigator from the faculty of land and food systems professor Dr Anubhav Pratap-Singh said the results show that the research was on the right track in developing an insulin formulation that will no longer need to be injected before every meal, improving the quality of life, as well as mental health, of more than nine million Type 1 diabetics around the world.

He explained that the inspiration behind the search for a non-injectable insulin comes from his diabetic father who has been injecting insulin three to four times a day for the past 15 years.

Meanwhile, Dr Alberto Baldelli, a senior fellow in Pratap-Singh’s lab, said they were now seeing nearly 100% of the insulin from their tablets go straight into the liver.

In previous attempts to develop a drinkable insulin, most of the insulin would accumulate in the stomach, said Baldelli.

Pratap-Singh’s team developed a different kind of tablet that isn’t made for swallowing, but instead dissolves when placed between the gum and cheek.

This method makes use of the thin membrane found within the lining of the inner cheek and back of the lips (also known as the buccal mucosa).

It delivered all the insulin to the liver without wasting or decomposing any insulin along the way.