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A Brief Overview of the Oral Delivery of Insulin as an Alternative to the Parenteral Delivery

2020; Bentham Science Publishers; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2174/1566524019666191010095522

1875-5666

Ana S. Macedo, Patrícia A. Filipe, Natália G. Thomé, João Vieira, Carolina Oliveira, Catarina Teodósio, Raquel Ferreira, Luís Roque, Pedro Fonte,

Diabetes Management and Research

Diabetes mellitus greatly affects the quality of life of patients and has a worldwide prevalence. Insulin is the most commonly used drug to treat diabetic patients and is usually administered through the subcutaneous route. However, this route of administration is ineffective due to the low concentration of insulin at the site of action. This route of administration causes discomfort to the patient and increases the risk of infection due to skin barrier disturbance caused by the needle. The oral administration of insulin has been proposed to surpass the disadvantages of subcutaneous administration. In this review, we give an overview of the strategies to deliver insulin by the oral route, from insulin conjugation to encapsulation into nanoparticles. These strategies are still under development to attain efficacy and effectiveness that are expected to be achieved in the near future.