CSIR-IICT, CSIR-IICB annonce discovery of novel formulation of thermo-stable Insulin

Scientists from the CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Bose Institute, CSIR-IICB, Kolkata, have announced the discovery of a novel formulation of cost effective thermostable insulin injection.

While availability of injectable insulin formulation has been a major breakthrough in diabetes management, insulin needs to be kept in a refrigerator or it will become unfit for use due to fibrillation (‘solidification’) after a few hours. Plus, its prolonged storage even in a normal refrigerator is also not good. Hence, its thermal instability and fibrillation at non-refrigerated temperatures demands storage and maintenance of the cold chain, making it expensive. The problem becomes acute for diabetes patients staying at remote locations with no refrigerator facility or those travelling for long hours.

Scientists from the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad, in collaboration with Bose Institute, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB), Kolkata, have announced the discovery of a novel formulation of cost effective thermostable insulin injection on Wednesday.

Their joint research helped in identification of a small peptide molecule ‘Insulock’ which inhibits insulin from fibrillation with the first part done by principal investigators from Bose Institute - Subhrangsu Chatterjee and Partha Chakrabarti whereas determination of 3D structure of ‘Insulock-insulin’ complex and thermal stability by using high-resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, was taken up IICT’s B. Jagadeesh (chief scientist) and Jithender Reddy (scientist).