Imagine: Smart Insulin that could sense high glucose levels and automatically dispense insulin on demand. “As your glucose levels drop off, the drug stabilizes, trapping insulin until the next glucose spike.” WOW! So it knows if you’ve been bad or good and just jumps right in there to correct your BG like a healthy pancreas?!
You are kidding me, 
right? Weeeelll, not according to Todd Zion, founder and CEO of SmartCells, a privately held company based in Beverly, MA, that is developing such a self-regulating drug. It would be injected just once a day, using the same needles currently used for conventional insulin.
Two weeks ago, the company announced an agreement with the JDRF that includes $1 million in first-year funding to support preclinical safety and efficacy testing. “The partnership is structured to support milestone-based funding through proof-of-concept human clinical trials.” WOW.
As a reader noted in a recent email, “This sounds like the best news in diabetes in over a decade.” In longer than that, I might argue!
Read this Technology Review article for all the details.
Notably:
“SmartInsulin works via competitive binding, in which insulin (orange lines), attached to a sugar group (orange hexagons), binds with a sugar-binding molecule (blue circle) in solution. When glucose (blue hexagons) in the body is high, it competes with insulin to bind to the sugar-binding molecules, displacing insulin and releasing it into the bloodstream as needed.”
Also, the requisite disclaimer:
“Before starting clinical trials, the researchers will have to make sure that the drug is, in essence, foolproof–that is, that there aren’t any molecular signals other than glucose that could unnecessarily release insulin into the bloodstream, says Frederick Schoen, a professor of pathology and health sciences and technology at Harvard Medical School. “You have to avoid bursts of insulin, which can be dangerous,” says Schoen. “It’s an exciting concept, and should be pursued, but lots of questions should be answered along the way.”
Right. Not getting my hopes up too much. But still … this one’s exxx-citing!!
Don’t we already have technology that does this with pumping? It’s the Guardian Real-time continuous monitoring system by Medtronic. I know it’s not insulin, but this is already available if you can “foot” the hefty bill due to insurance companies lack of coverage.
I am definitely skeptical, but any progress is good. I know this goes without saying, but we need a cure.
If this smart insulin can work fast enough, you’d get a life that would be almost non-diabetic. For maybe two injections per day of smart insulin you’d eliminate carb counting, finger-sticking, long-acting vs short-acting insulin, insulin pumps….and feel great physically and no more mood swings. It would be like a closed loop solution without hardware.
I wept upon reading the Technology Review article. I don’t know what else to say.
I get the biochem principles behind this, but have serious doubts about this making it to market, because of the safety issue. I first heard about this concept almost 2 years ago, even before I was diagnosed with type 1.
I think islet cell replacement holds more promise; that way, we’re getting the body back to the way it works, not throwing substitutes at the problem. I’m not terribly optimistic about successful islet transplants getting off the ground in my lifetime, though.
This would drive down the cost of diabetic supplies immensely – can you imagine a world where high health care costs aren’t blamed on diabetics? No more pumps, pump supplies, testers, test strips, CGM transmitters and sensors… no more diabetic side effects! (Exactly how well is this stuff supposed to work?)
I think is might be great once it is proved to be safe and it really works, but since I have become a type 1 diabetic, I don’t hear or see hardly any information for the type 1 diabetic. I wish the all the luck in the world that their research comes out a winner and maybe the people with tye 1 diabetes will start seeing more information geared towards them.
[...] Insulin: It Knows What You’ve Been Eating In Diabetes on November 14, 2008 at 7:23 am » Smart Insulin: It Knows What You’ve Been Eating – DiabetesMine: diabetes, life, health, communi… Imagine: Smart Insulin that could sense high glucose levels and automatically dispense insulin on [...]
This to me sounds like the closest thing to a cure that I’ve ever seen or heard. I would give anything if this could work for my eight year old son. Ever since he was diagnosed over 2 years ago with type I Diabetes, I haven’t received a good nights rest since. There are many times that I’ve gotten up and had to check on my son in the middle of the night to give him a snack if he was low, or a slide of insulin if he was high. Smart insulin would be a God send if it really works like they say that it will.
I just heard about this today. Sounds great. In answer to Tony Rose, we have nothing like it today. The Medtronic thing requires 2 thing inserted into you, the pump a blood glucose sensor. Any doses of insulin have to be programmed in by you. It does now shut off if you get too low.
People always brag about pumps etc. Great but they require more testing etc. But I’m looking for a system that requires me to devote less time and energy to managing my diabetes. This sounds like just the ticket. Now, only if it works …
my granddaughter was diagnosed a year ago. she is eleven and the honeymoon phase is over and now the roller coaster of highs and lows is upon us. i am very involved in providing support to her and her mom. currently we do a pre breakfast and pre dinner shot with humalog and humalin…the last 1ac was 7.5 which is not great but not awful and there was some illness in that interval which made things worse. very active kid, very compliant and bright. but i am of course scared shitless. keep reading about pumps and lantis and other options but we will try to get good control with the two shots for awhile more as the options all seem to have their downsides. hoping for either a real closed system that is dependable but if these folks could pull off smart insulin it would be a miracle. good for m.i.t for encouraging the research. any comments to my ramblings are welcome….this is a long, tough slog isn’t it?
This is fantastic news.My daughter was diagnosed at 3 we have highs and lows all over the place any drug that fits in to a busy life style is a god send.My daughter has a combination of Lantus,Novorapid and Actrapid.Shes currently on 4 injections a day ,hates the idea of a pump and has very little sleep.
To all the Mums,dads and grandmas and of course type 1 diabetics out there we are not alone in our struggle.
I have found there is a great divide between people with and without pumps. I think its different stokes for different folks. Its what works for you.
I have been following the updates on this therapy since smartinsulin surfaced on the net back in 2003. As far as I know they are going into human trials probably within the next 6 months or so. The idea behind this therapy is brilliant and so far the results in animals have been very effective. Other then a real cure this therapy will make living with diabetes not the nightmare it is today. I have been suffering with this for nearly 35 years and been eagerly waiting for a breakthrough over the last decade. I think this is very realistic that this will be a breakthrough though it will take at least a good five years or so to get an FDA approval.
do u think this will be approved by say ten years?
do u htink this will be aprroved soon?
What happened to this? It seems as if the concept was lost, I haven’t heard any recent news on this. I think the artificial pancreas could be promising though. They are already having trials with it which all turned out great. The AP is actually being used by many in other countries but the FDA hasn’t approved it yet. Let’s hope there’ll be some kind of breakthrough
Does anyone know if this has been tested on humans yet? I am a diabetic with so many complications and something like this seems unreal. I would be happy to test the drug!!