Drug Delivery Technology: Revolutionizing Diabetes Treatment

PharmaVision
September 20, 2007
91 Pages - SKU: PBA2268134
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The efficient delivery of insulin remains one of the key therapeutic problems in the management of diabetes. Treatment of Type 1, and up to one-third of Type 2 cases require insulin however, until recently the only route of administration was via subcutaneous injection. Whilst there have been marginal improvements in injectable devices - insulin “pens” - the recent approval of inhalable insulin is the first step to opening new opportunities in the non-invasive delivery of this life-giving macromolecule. Clearly, there has been a major opportunity for new product development in the insulin delivery field, and a great deal of R&D activity is now beginning to bear fruit.

It is noteworthy that all three lead products in the inhaled insulin category have involved collaboration between the top insulin companies and smaller concerns specializing in delivery devices: Alkermes, Aradigm and Nektar Therapeutics. Inhalable insulin formulations are also being developed by companies including Mannkind and Baxter.

Other non-invasive routes to exploit for insulin delivery include ansdermal patches utilizing some form of active transport to drive the sizeable insulin molecule through the skin, and delivery via the buccal mucosa. Generex is one company investigating the buccal route, and Altea and Alza are working with the transdermal approach.

We believe there are significant opportunities for the improved delivery of insulin, and examples are provided on research programmes which are now underway. There is less need for development of drug delivery technologies in the area of oral hypoglycaemics, since all the leading drugs in this category are well absorbed orally and the current generation all have adequate long half-lives.

There is, however, an emerging (potential) opportunity for optimizing the delivery of newer drug treatments, including incretin mimetics (the current products are given by injection) and GLP-1 agonists which are thought to have the same limitation. In addition, PPAR agonists may benefit from the utilization of delivery platforms.


 

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