End of Diabetics Injections? Smart patch Can Automatically Release insulin into the Bloodstream

The patch - a thin square no bigger than a penny - is covered with more than one hundred tiny needles, each about the size of an eyelash that can automatically release insulin when needed.

With over 387 million people worldwide affected by Diabetes and that number is expected to grow to 592 million by the year 2035. Painful insulin injections could become a thing of the past.

Researchers have unveiled a smart patch that can automatically release insulin when needed. The patch - a thin square no bigger than a penny - is covered with more than one hundred tiny needles, each about the size of an eyelash. 

These 'microneedles' are packed with microscopic storage units for insulin and glucose-sensing enzymes that rapidly release their cargo when blood sugar levels get too high.

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The study, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the new, painless patch could lower blood glucose in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes for up to nine hours. 

Thus, patients with type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes who try to keep their blood sugar levels under control with regular finger pricks and repeated insulin shots, a process that is painful and imprecise would no longer have to go through pain once this new discovery is certified for use. 

More pre-clinical tests and subsequent clinical trials in humans will be required before the patch can be administered to patients, but the approach shows great promise.

'We have designed a patch for diabetes that works fast, is easy to use, and is made from nontoxic, biocompatible materials,' said co-senior author Zhen Gu.

'The whole system can be personalized to account for a diabetic's weight and sensitivity to insulin,' he added, 'so we could make the smart patch even smarter.'

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