Hailed by scientists as "smart" insulin, it reacts instantly to fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

Exclusive: According to scientists, people with type 1 diabetes may eventually only need to inject themselves once a week.

Researchers have created the "holy grail" insulin, which can react instantly to fluctuations in blood sugar levels and might completely change the way millions of type 1 diabetics are treated globally.

Currently, in order to survive, patients must inject themselves synthetic insulin up to ten times each day. Blood sugar levels that are constantly rising or falling can lead to both immediate and long-term physical health problems. The effort to maintain stable levels can also have an impact on an individual's mental well-being. 

Experts claim that scientists have discovered a treatment that, when taken as prescribed, is as close to curing type 1 diabetes as any medication therapy could: intelligent insulin, which remains dormant in the body until called upon. Novel insulins that react quickly in real time to changes in blood sugar levels have been successfully created by researchers in the US, Australia, and China.

Once they have done their work, standard insulins usually cannot aid with future swings in blood sugar levels. Instead, they stabilise blood sugar levels when they enter the body. It implies that within a few hours, patients frequently need to inject more insulin.

In an effort to avoid hyperglycemia, the new glucose-responsive insulins (GRIs) only activate when blood sugar levels reach a specific level. When levels fall below a particular threshold, they revert to inactive state, preventing hypoglycemia (low blood glucose). Experts predict that individuals may eventually only require insulin once each week.

Millions of pounds in funds have been given to scientists to expedite the development of the smart insulins. The funding is provided by Diabetes UK, JDRF, and the Steve Morgan Foundation through the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge. It is putting £50 million into state-of-the-art research to aid in the discovery of novel type 1 diabetes medicines.

Smart insulin may usher in a new age in the fight against diabetes, according to Dr. Tim Heise, vice-chair of the scientific advisory council for novel insulins for the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge. "People with type 1 diabetes must work very hard to manage their diabetes on a daily basis in order to strike a decent balance between maintaining satisfactory glycaemic control and preventing hypoglycemia, even with the current generation of insulins.

"The holy grail of insulin is thought to be glucose-responsive, or "smart," insulins since they would be the closest medication therapy has to curing type 1 diabetes.

Six research initiatives that have created various kinds of smart insulins have received funding totalling over £3 million. These consist of groups from Zhejiang University in China, Stanford University in the United States, and Monash University in Australia. The goal is to expedite development and get trials underway as soon as feasible.

The goal of every effort is to fine-tune smart insulin so that it acts more quickly and accurately, easing part of the extreme load of controlling type 1 diabetes and lowering the likelihood of long-term problems. Only testing GRIs is the focus of four of the projects.

A fifth has created a brand-new, extremely quick-acting insulin. The time it takes for an insulin to begin acting on blood glucose levels still lags, even with the quickest insulins now on the market. As a result, blood glucose may increase to dangerous levels before insulin has a chance to reduce it.

Faster insulin is also required to enhance the performance of hybrid closed loop technology, which depends on the stored insulin reacting instantly to variations in blood glucose levels, and insulin pumps

The sixth project focusses on a protein that joins the hormones glucagon and insulin. When blood glucose levels fall, glucagon stimulates the liver to release additional glucose, in contrast to insulin, which aids in removing glucose from the blood. By preventing both high and low blood glucose levels, combining the two hormones in one formulation may help to maintain stable blood glucose levels.

According to Heise, "the six newly funded research projects address major shortcomings in insulin therapy." "Thus, if successful, these research projects could potentially usher in a new era in insulin therapy."

"While insulin has been saving lives for over a century and prior research has led to significant changes for people with type 1, it is still not good enough – managing glucose levels with insulin is really tough, and it's time for science to find ways to lift that burden,” stated Rachel Connor, director of research partnerships at JDRF UK.

"We hope these six projects will help to create that new reality by imagining a world where insulins can respond to changing glucose levels in real-time, relieving people with type 1 of the relentless demands that living with this condition places on them today."

The initiatives might completely change how type 1 diabetes is treated, according to Diabetes UK's director of research, Dr. Elizabeth Robertson. Our goal in funding these innovative research projects is to create new insulins that more closely resemble the body's physiological reactions to fluctuations in blood sugar.

This could greatly lessen the difficulties associated with controlling type 1 diabetes on a daily basis and enhance the physical and mental well-being of persons who have the illness. We expect that this research will result in improvements in type 1 diabetes care that will change people's lives.

Source theguardian.com