Could insulin pill prevent diabetes?

400 children and adults take part in international study

CHICAGO — For nearly a century, insulin has been a life- saving diabetes treatment. Now scientists are testing a tantalizing question: What if pills containing the same medicine patients inject every day could also prevent the disease?

Hayden Murphy, 13, of Plainfield, Illinois, is helping researchers determine if the strategy works for Type 1 diabetes. If it does, he might be able to avoid the lifetime burdens facing his 5- year- old brother, Weston. They includes finger pricks and blood sugar checks, and avoiding playing too hard or eating too little, which can cause blood sugar fluctuations.

Hayden is among more than 400 children and adults participating in U. S. government- funded research investigating whether experimental insulin capsules can prevent or delay Type 1 diabetes.

Hospitals in the United States and eight other countries are involved and recruitment is ongoing. To enroll, participants must first get bad news: results of a blood test showing their chances for developing the disease are high.

Hayden swallows a small white capsule daily and has his blood checked periodically for signs of diabetes.

A small, preliminary study by different researchers, published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests the approach might work. Children who took insulin pills showed immune system changes that the researchers said might help prevent diabetes.

The study didn’t last long enough to be sure.

The ongoing larger study is more rigorous, randomly assigning participants to get experimental insulin capsules or dummy pills, and should provide a clearer answer.

“Does it prevent indefinitely? Does it slow it down, does it delay diabetes? That also would be a pretty big win,” said Dr. Louis Philipson, a University of Chicago diabetes specialist.