Israeli pharma house developing insulin pill
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E-mail Xinhua, July 24, 2012
Israeli pharma house developing insulin pill
JERUSALEM, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at a Jerusalem hospital said they are working on an insulin pill that could put an end to painful daily injections and the refrigeration crucial to keeping the medication viable.
Dr. Miriam Kidron, founder of the six-year-old Oramed company, is one of the scientists working at the city's Hadassah Medical Center.
Kidron said in an interview with the New York-based Jewish Press that she was "happy that it's becoming a reality."
"My goal is that people will be able to buy oral insulin in the pharmacy. It will be fantastic because a huge amount of people in the world need this medication," according to Kidron.
American Diabetes Association figures show that more than 25 million Americans and 350 million people worldwide suffer from the disease.
Kidron said it took 25 years of research to overcome a number of major issues in getting the pill to work as well as the traditional injection.
"First, insulin is a peptide, which is a small protein, and when you swallow it, it gets degraded by the body's enzymes. Second, the size of the insulin -- it doesn't go through the gut wall, and therefore it doesn't reach the blood circulation. Think of insulin as a tennis ball and the gut wall as the net. The ball doesn't go through the net," she said.
Kidron's son and the company's CEO, Nadav, noted that "Oral insulin does not exist in the world today, but we are the furthest advanced in getting it into the market." He added that the firm was "just about to start a Phase 2 trial in the United States."
Oramed hopes -- assuming the medication passes the stringent Food and Drug Administration's clinical trials -- to begin marketing the pills by 2016. Enditem
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