Novo's insulin pill quest is Holy Grail for diabetics
"Swallowing a tablet would make such a difference," says Chaline, a former public transport agent who has gotten about 9,000 insulin shots in the past seven years, Bloomberg report.
Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOB) is trying to make Chaline's wish, and those of millions more like her, come true. Vying with other drugmakers to develop what could be one of the biggest blockbuster drugs in years, the company is spending at least $2 billion to make an insulin pill hardy enough to cheat the body's own defense mechanisms and deliver insulin to the bloodstream.
"The odds of making it were a million to one five years ago," says Novo Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen. "Are we getting closer to a 50-50 scenario? Absolutely."
If successful, an insulin pill could reach peak sales of from $5 billion to $10 billion, estimates Vincent Meunier, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in Paris.
"It would be one of the biggest drugs of all time," Meunier says, though for now, it's still "in the realm of science fiction."
Acid Attacks
Novo executives say research is moving along. One new clinical study began earlier this month. Diabetics currently must inject insulin to prevent sugar from pooling in their blood. A successful pill must be hardy enough to withstand acid attacks during digestion and nimble enough to pass the filter of the gut wall to reach its first target, the liver.
"It's a big effort, because it's so difficult," Thomsen says. "If things are difficult, you either make them big or you don't make them."
Diabetes, caused by a lack of insulin needed to convert blood sugar into energy, affects 366 million people worldwide, killing one every seven seconds, the International Diabetes Federation estimates.
A tablet wouldn't replace injections entirely because it's likely to be used only in patients whose bodies can still produce some insulin, according to Thomsen. Instead, the drug would allow diabetics to get treated earlier because doctors wouldn't wait to prescribe a pill like they do with injections.
"If this were to work, it would be huge," says Spyros Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York . "We would get more people on insulin. It would be a lot easier to use."
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