Oramed Is Now The First To Show Evidence That Insulin Can Be Taken Orally
Mayer Winkler
Summary
Injectable insulin has been around since 1923, but oral insulin has proven elusive to date.
Oramed Pharmaceuticals' successful Phase IIB trial for oral insulin has shown that it can be done.
The potential advantage of oral insulin is beyond the issue of convenience, as oral administration delivers insulin directly to the liver which regulates its release naturally.
This would obviate the need to chemically alter insulin in order to regulate its release molecularly.
Oramed has plenty of cash and about a 5 year runway at current burn rate.
More than 400 million individuals suffer from diabetes, or about 5.5% of the world's population. One in every five dollars spent on healthcare in the US goes towards diabetes treatment. It's reached epidemic levels as global sugar intake increases, and its incidence rate keeps going up. It's also an area in which treatment options are not only limited, but terribly outdated.
Injectable insulin, which is far and away the most widely used treatment for both diabetes type I and II, has been widely available since 1923. One serious issue with injectable insulin is not that it doesn't work, but that it cannot be naturally regulated by the human body. Insulin directly to the blood needs to be regulated by the user in combination with various technological release modulators that chemically alter the insulin in order to make it either fast or slow-acting, depending on the user's choice. In healthy non-diabetics by contrast, insulin is delivered through the portal vein directly to the liver, which regulates its release and activation naturally.
