If you or someone you know has diabetes, you know how tough it can be to keep up with regular insulin or medication shots. Some people need to inject themselves daily or at least once a week to stay on top of their blood sugar levels. But what if you could cut that down to just three shots a year?
That’s exactly what researchers at Stanford University are working on.
A New Kind of Diabetes Treatment
Scientists have developed a special gel—called a hydrogel—that can be loaded with diabetes-controlling drugs. Once it’s injected under the skin, it slowly releases the medication over a period of months. This means patients wouldn’t need to take shots every day or even every week.
These medications, known as GLP-1 drugs, help the body manage insulin and also reduce appetite. Some well-known versions already on the market include Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are also known for their role in helping with weight loss.
Normally, these drugs need to be taken weekly, but Stanford’s new system could change that.
How It Works
The hydrogel is designed to be easy to inject using a normal syringe. Once inside the body, it forms a small drug “depot” that doesn’t cause discomfort and slowly dissolves over time. This steady release keeps the medicine working in the body without the need for frequent injections.
In tests done on rats with type 2 diabetes, just one shot every 42 days (about six weeks) did a better job at controlling blood sugar and weight than daily injections. That time gap in rats is roughly equal to four months in humans, according to the researchers.
This means a person could get their diabetes shot during regular check-ups—no extra appointments, no complicated routines.
More Than Just Diabetes
Here’s the exciting part: the hydrogel isn’t just for diabetes drugs. Scientists believe it can be adjusted to release medication over just a few days or up to six months. That could make it useful for many types of treatment—from inflammation to cancer therapy.
The Stanford team’s next step is to test the system in pigs, whose skin and hormone systems are more similar to ours. If those tests go well, human trials could start in about 18 to 24 months.
What This Could Mean for the Future
Managing diabetes can be stressful and time-consuming. Having a safe, long-lasting option like this could make life a whole lot easier. Fewer injections, less hassle, and better results—that’s the goal.
And if everything goes according to plan, this innovation might not just help people with diabetes, but also transform how we take many other medicines too.
Source: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(23)00486…
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