Soon, Anti-Diabetes Drugs to Replace Painful Insulin Jabs

Diabetes Mellitus is a condition wherein the body is either unable to produce insulin on its own or is not able to use it properly. Patients with Type 1 diabetes are required to take insulin injections to keep their blood sugar in control. Insulin jabs are usually required to be taken several times in a day and in some cases more than one type of insulin may be used. A new discovery claims that diabetics will no longer have to go through painful insulin injections as new anti-diabetes drugs will soon be able to do the needful. Researchers led by the University of Adelaide have shown how potential anti-diabetic drugs interact with their target in the body at the molecular level.

"Type two diabetes is characterized by resistance to insulin with subsequent high blood sugar which leads to serious disease. It is usually associated with poor lifestyle factors such as diet and lack of exercise," said John Bruning, from University of Adelaide.(Also Read: 7 Things You Should Do Regularly to Reduce the Risk of Diabetes)

The new drug doesn't act on the liver to reduce glucose product like most commonly prescribed anti-diabetes drugs like Metformin. They target a protein receptor known as PPARgamma found in fat tissue throughout the body, either fully or partially activating it in order to lower blood sugar by increasing sensitivity to insulin and changing the metabolism of fat and sugar.

"People with severe diabetes need to take insulin but having to inject this can be problematic, and it's difficult to get insulin levels just right," said Bruning.

Inputs from PTI