Scientists develop needle-free treatments for diabetes and cancer patients

The use of needles for treatment by cancer and diabetes could soon be unnecessary after US-based researchers discovered new ways and methods of administering medicine, without use of needles.

These researchers from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) are paving the way for diabetes and cancer patients.  

They believe patients will only be able to take pills to manage their conditions.

What technology is this?

Some drugs for these diseases dissolve in water. This means that transporting them through the intestines, which receive what we drink and eat, is not feasible.

Consequently, these drugs cannot be effectively administered orally, by swallowing medicine through the same mouth.

They created a chemical “tag” that can be added to these drugs they take orally, which would then enter blood circulation through the intestines.

The tag is composed of a small peptide, which is like a protein fragment.

They found that the tag accumulated in the intestines and made its way in the brain and bladder through blood circulation.

“Because they are relatively small molecules, you can chemically attach them to drugs, or other molecules of interest, and use them to deliver those drugs orally,” Min Xue, UCR chemistry professor who led the research said.

Many drugs, including insulin, must be injected.

The researchers are hopeful their next set of experiments will change that, allowing them to add this tag to a wide variety of drugs and chemicals, changing the way those molecules move through the body.

The paper was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers detail how they found the tag and demonstrate its effectiveness.

“This discovery could lift a burden on people who are already burdened with illness,” Xue said.