Insulin

Main article: Diabetes mellitus

2024: First ready-to-produce insulin tablet developed for diabetics

On January 19, 2024, researchers from the University of Tromsø (Arctic University of Norway) announced the development of the first ready-to-produce insulin tablet. Such a drug promises to improve the quality of life of millions of people with diabetes.

As of the beginning of 2024, there are about 425 million people with diabetes worldwide. About 75 million of them are forced to give themselves insulin injections every day. The new development offers an alternative to syringes and insulin pumps in the form of ingestible capsules. Moreover, insulin in the form of chocolate bars may appear in the future.

UiT

The tablets created contain tiny nano-carriers in which insulin is encapsulated. The size of these particles is 1/10,000 of the width of a human hair: they are so small that they cannot be seen even under a regular microscope. Researchers have developed a special coating that protects insulin from destruction by gastric acid and digestive enzymes. As a result, the drug passes through the digestive system, reaching its destination - the liver. There, the coating is destroyed by enzymes that are active only when blood sugar levels are high. This results in the release of insulin.

Experts note that their method is a more practical and patient-friendly way to treat diabetes, since it significantly reduces the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). In addition, the new approach allows you to control the release of insulin depending on the needs of a particular patient, in contrast to injections, in which the entire dose of the drug immediately enters the body. Another advantage of the method is that insulin capsules do not need to be stored in a refrigerator as is the case with a conventional solution.^[1]

2023

Growth in insulin sales in Russia by 17% to 35.5 billion rubles

In 2023, sales of insulins in Russia (a hormone that regulates the exchange of carbohydrates in the body, drugs containing it are prescribed for diabetes mellitus) reached 35.5 billion rubles, which is 17% higher than the result of the previous year. In physical terms, the volume of this market reached 17.2 million packages (+ 7.5% by 2022), analysts at RNC Pharma calculated (their data were published at the end of February 2024).

The leaders of the Russian insulin market are Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Geropharm, which accounted for 89% of the drug's sales in 2023. The share of Russian manufacturers amounted to 24.6% in money and 38.8% in pieces.

Unsplash

According to TASS, citing Nikolai Bespalov, Development Director of RNC Pharma, the share of insulin produced in the Russian Federation in the Russian market in 2023 reached 95%. The Geropharm company told the agency that in 2023 the group sold 4 million packages of insulin, which is 9% more than a year earlier.

Geropharm became the first pharmaceutical company in Russia to receive Halal certification for its line of insulins. In March 2024, the company will begin clinical trials of ultra-long-acting insulin with a weekly profile.

Such products have not yet been registered in Russia, - said earlier the general director of the company Pyotr Rodionov.

In 2019-2020 sales of insulins in Russia were record and measured 20 million packages per year. The high market performance was due to the fact that people feared difficulties with the delivery of such drugs to the country, since foreign manufacturers historically occupy a significant market share. After the appearance of a large number of analogues, the need for purchases of this drug for future use has disappeared, experts interviewed by Vedomosti believe.^[2]

Production of recombinant human insulins in the Russian Federation

In early July 2023, the Russian pharmaceutical company Farmasintez announced the production of recombinant human insulins (general insulins) - Gensulin M30, Gensulin H, Gensulin P. Their production was established at the Farmasintez Nord site in St. Petersburg. Read more here.

The beginning of the decline in insulin prices in the United States

After years of complaints in the US about the prohibitive cost of drugs, pharmaceutical companies in the spring of 2023 finally cut insulin prices. On March 1, Eli Lilly & Co. reduced the cost of some options by 70%. Two weeks later, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi responded with similar declines.

Just as important for diabetics, who often pay hundreds of dollars a month for life-saving drugs, Lilly and Sanofi have introduced new policies aimed at reducing copays - the amount patients must pay for a vial at a pharmacy - to $35 for many versions.

However, industry observers say that in the long term, restrictions on payment from own funds do not risk reducing, but supporting insulin prices.

The changes threaten to stifle competition from new, cheaper alternatives known as biosimilars, keeping insurance costs high and preventing competitors from gaining traction.

Insulin is developed in tablets, which is effectively absorbed in the intestines

In early January 2023, a team of Chinese researchers reported that they were able to deliver insulin to the colon of rats using a tablet taken orally and powered by chemical "micromotors."

Diabetic patients have difficulty regulating their blood glucose levels because they produce little or no insulin. Synthetic insulin has been around for more than a hundred years, but it is often administered by injection or an implanted pump. People with diabetes often take insulin several times a day, so frequent injections can be painful, and as a result, some patients do not take the recommended dose at the right time.

Insulin in tablets

The best approach may be to actively move the drug around the body, as in the recently introduced robocapsule, which delivers its cargo by penetrating the thick mucous layer of the small intestine. Infeng Tu, Fei Peng, Kun Liu and their colleagues wanted to achieve a similar effect with insulin-loaded mini-tablets that are equipped with tiny chemical "micromotors" capable of safely delivering insulin to the colon.

To make these tablets, the researchers coated the magnesium microparticles with a layer of insulin-containing solution and a layer of liposomes. They then mixed these particles with baking soda, pressed them into mini-tablets about 3 mm long, and coated them with an esterified starch solution. Starch protected the tablets from exposure to stomach acid, which allowed them to reach the colon intact. Upon destruction, magnesium microparticles reacted with water to form a stream of gaseous hydrogen bubbles that acted as micromotors to propel insulin to the colon for absorption.

The team of scientists also tested their mini pills on rats and found that they could significantly reduce the animals' blood glucose levels by five hours. In fact, they could keep glucose levels almost as low as insulin given by injection. Despite the need for further work, the researchers say this is a concrete step toward creating more oral drug formulas traditionally used only for injections.

The authors recognize funding from China's National Natural Science Foundation, Guangdong Foundation for Basic and Applied Basic Research.^[3]

2019: Capital at Death: US insulin price halved

In late January 2019, the nonprofit HCCI Institute for Health Expenditure Assessment released a report that found the cost of insulin to treat type 1 diabetes in the U.S. nearly doubled over the five-year period from 2012 to 2016, justifying protests from the public over rising drug prices.

According to the report, in 2012, on average, a person with type 1 diabetes spent $2,864 a year on treatment, while in 2016, annual insulin costs rose to $5,705. These figures represent the cumulative amount paid by the patient and their policyholder for the drugs and do not reflect discounts paid at a later date.

The cost of insulin for diabetics doubled from 2012 to 2016 in SS

The rising cost of insulin causes some patients to put their own health at risk. They are starting to limit the use of life-saving drugs because they cannot afford the costs of insulin. Patients and their family members have already protested several times under the windows of insulin manufacturers' headquarters.

The price of insulin in countries around the world in 2018

The jump in spending was driven by rising insulin prices overall and the release of more expensive drugs by manufacturers, according to the HCCI report. The average daily insulin intake over the same five-year period grew by only 3%, and the new drugs do not provide special benefits and make up only a small fraction of the total use. At the same time, prices change for both new and old drugs - the same drug cost twice as much in 2016 as in 2012.

Drugmakers are justified by the fact that they periodically need to raise drug prices in the United States to compensate for significant discounts that help them get into the insurance market. In 2017-2018. major pharmaceutical manufacturers began to limit the annual rise in prescription drug prices under increasing pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump and Congress.^[4]

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