Insulock

Scientists working at the CSIR-IICT located in Hyderabad, has partnered with the researchers from Bose Institute, CSIR-IICB located in Kolkata, to announce the discovery of a new low-cost heat-stable insulin injection formulation.

Highlights

Although the availability of injectable insulin formulations was a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes, insulin must be refrigerated or it becomes unusable after a few hours due to fibrillation (“solidification”). Also, long-term storage is not good even in a normal refrigerator. Therefore, its thermal instability and fibrillation at non-refrigerated temperatures requires the storage and maintenance of the cold chain, which makes it more expensive. The problem is exacerbated for diabetic patients who are in remote places without a refrigerator  or who travel for  hours.

About the research

The joint research helped identify a small peptide molecule called “insulock” that inhibits insulin fibrillation, part of which was done by principal investigators at the Bose Institute, Partha Chakrabarti and Subhrangsu Chatterjee. Determination of the 3D structure of the “insulin insulin” complex and thermal stability by high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was performed by Jithender Reddy (Scientist) and B. Jagadeesh (Chief Scientist) of the IICT. They had shown that “Insulock” prevents heat- and memory-induced insulin fibrillation and therefore the loss of the effective amount of insulin. Insulock is heat stable, non-immunogenic, non-toxic as well as maintain insulin in its active form for months at room temperature without loss. Obtaining structural knowledge about “Insulock” and establishing structural similarities with respect to injecting native insulin are crucial steps. These were performed CSIR’s NMR, which is verified by the USFDA, has national accreditations and is the most suitable for regulatory studies of drug molecules.

Clinical Trials

The research teams plan to start human clinical trials in collaboration with the Indian pharmaceutical industry. This research was published in iScience, an internationally renowned Cell Press journal. Once the human studies are completed, the new “Insulock” formulation can provide cheap insulin to patients in remote locations.