CSIR-IICT, CSIR-IICB discover novel formulation of thermostable insulin
The Hindu
‘Insulock’ prevents both heat and storage induced insulin fibrillation
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. Besides, its prolonged storage even in a normal refrigerator is not good. Hence, its thermal instability and fibrillation at non-refrigerated temperatures demand 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 the 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 by IICT’s B. Jagadeesh (chief scientist) and Jithender Reddy (scientist).