GLP-1 drugs have reshaped the treatment of obesity and diabetes, and roughly one in eight Americans has already taken one, yet nearly all must be injected. A Duke team led by biomedical engineering professor Ashutosh Chilkoti has demonstrated an oral delivery approach that, in mice, reduced weight as effectively as the injected version of a GLP-1 drug, even when the animals had free access to high-calorie food.
The technology rests on elastin-like polypeptides, protein-based materials inspired by a peptide the body produces naturally. Engineered to switch between solid and liquid states depending on acidity and temperature, the polypeptide shields its drug cargo as it passes through the hostile, acidic environment of the stomach, then releases the medicine once it reaches the gentler conditions of the intestines, where it can be absorbed into the body.
Published online in May in the journal Cell Biomaterials, the work stands apart from other oral strategies, which typically try to neutralise stomach acid and require dosing on an empty stomach. By sidestepping the acid problem altogether, the Duke approach could eventually make the most effective class of metabolic drugs available as a simple pill, with implications for cost, convenience and global access.