IRISH DIABETES WONDER PILL TO BOOST PATIENTS
RTE show reveals battle to axe jabs
A BREAKTHROUGH tablet that would spare diabetes patients having painful daily injections could soon be available, it has been revealed.
RTE documentary Bittersweet shows CURAM’S Professor David Brayden and his UCD team working towards making insulin in pill form.
He told how there has been a surge in Irish people with the condition over the past decade, mainly due to a sedentary, Western diet.
Prof Brayden said: “The rise in diabetes is probably tenfold.
“The majority are going to be Type 2 and that originates in lifestyle – eating the wrong foods at the wrong time and not taking enough exercise.”
Treatment is focused on delaying the disease through exercise and diet with patients later moving on to needles.
However, for Type 1, patients must endure daily injections.
He added: “Inhaled insulin has been achieved, so we know patients prefer other routes.
“Type 2 diabetics tend to delay injections as it is a huge psychological leap to say I’m on them for life. If we could have a rapid-acting tablet for mealtimes that would be an achievement – the ultimate would be to avoid injections, where we give tablets for long-acting insulin.” Prof Brayden said nano-technology – putting tiny particles in a tablet – means medicine can go directly into the gut wall. He explained: “Injections of insulin mean organs outside the liver, its intended target, will get high concentrations they don’t need. “This will lead to side effects such as weight gain and other undesirable events later in life.” The documentary is part of a joint programme from NUI Galway’s CURAM Centre for Research in Medical Devices and the Galway Film Centre programme.
Suvi Coffey, the Dublin mother of toddler Rosie, tells the documentary she won’t let Type 1 diabetes affect her daughter’s life.
She said: “Her life will be the same as any other child and as she goes on I think she will be stronger and a little bit more resilient. She is an amazing, incredible, strong little girl.”
Bittersweet: The Rise of Diabetes is on RTE One on World Diabetes Day on Wednesday at 11.10pm.