Hyderabad-Kolkata researchers team develop insulin that can be stored at room temperature

Yes, there is a good probability that in the near future, diabetics who are dependent on insulin could have access to insulin, which does not need refrigeration.  

Hyderabad: An insulin that can be stored at room temperature! 

Yes, there is a good probability that in the near future, diabetics who are dependent on insulin could have access to insulin, which does not need refrigeration.  

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Ground-breaking collaborative research by scientists from Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Bose Institute and Kolkata-based Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), can now make it possible for diabetics to safely store insulin at room temperatures and avoid the often-difficult task of maintaining it at temperatures between 2 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius.

Keeping injectable insulin for patients in refrigerators is difficult in remote locations where such a facility is not available. There are occasions when patients use ice to maintain the temperature to store insulin. However, on such occasions, there is always a chance of insulin getting frozen.

Doctors strictly advise patients to avoid using insulin that has been frozen. The problem becomes more acute for diabetics who frequently travel but can’t maintain the much-needed cold chain safety precautions of storing insulin.  

The study to develop injectable thermo-table insulin that can be stored at room temperature but still retain its bio-active properties by CSIR-IICT, CSIR-IICB and Bose Institute, could well address the difficulties in cold-chain management of insulin. The development is also expected to attract the attention of pharmaceutical giants who have been trying to develop thermo-stable insulin.

Essentially, the scientists have shown that a small peptide molecule consisting of four amino acids, named as ‘Insulock’ prevents both heat and storage induced insulin fibrillation (freezing) and thereby loss of effective quantum of insulin. 

The researchers found that the ‘Insulock’ is non-toxic, non-immunogenic and heat-stable and can maintain insulin in the active form at room temperature without any loss for months.  The ‘Insulock’ has been evaluated in mice models and the research work was published recently in ‘iScience’, an international reputed journal of Cell press. 

The research to develop a thermo-table insulin consisted of identification of  an appropriate small peptide to inhibit the insulin from fibrillation, which was accomplished by Dr. Subhrangsu Chatterjee, Associate Professor of Bose Institute and Dr. Partha Chakrabarti (Principal Investigators) and Determination of  the 3-dimensional (3D) structure of the Insulock-insulin complex and its thermal stability  by using high-resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy, which was accomplished  by Dr B. Jagadeesh, Chief  Scientist, and Dr Jithender Reddy, Scientist from NMR Centre of  CSIR-IICT.

“Gaining the structural insights about the Insulock and establishing its 3D-structural similarity with respect to the native insulin injection are crucial steps, which have been carried out at the NMR center of CSIR-IICT. This NMR-center has world class facilities with USFDA-audited and National accreditations, which are best suited for regulatory studies of drug molecules,” Dr Jagadeesh from IICT said.

The Kolkata-Hyderabad scientists team hopes that, upon successful completion of trials in humans, the novel Insulock formulation can give a scope for producing cost-effective insulin injection and will be extremely useful in delivering it to the patients even in resource-limited areas.

The scientists are also planning to take up the developmental activity pertaining to trials in humans by collaborating with Indian pharmaceutical industries. 

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