Insulin (medication) to develop an orally available insulin. Many of these approaches employ nanoparticle delivery systems and several are being tested in clinical trials. Another improvement would be a transplantation of the pancreas or beta cell to avoid periodic insulin administration. This would result in a self-regulating insulin source. Transplantation of an entire pancreas (as an individual organ) is difficult and relatively uncommon. It is often performed in conjunction with liver or kidney transplant, although it can be done by itself. It is also possible to do a transplantation of only the pancreatic beta cells. However, islet transplants had been highly experimental
Insulin detemir B.A., Sanjoy Paul, Ph.D., Jonathan C. Levy, M.D., F.R.C.P., for the 4-T Study Group 2. http://www.springerlink.com/content/6lktug1r2exurq0j/?p=af5e2f613a0f4c6690f8fdc920f48bd6&pi=5, (2007) Insulin analogues (insulin detemir and insulin aspart) versus traditional human insulins (NPH insulin and regular human insulin) in basal-bolus therapy for patients with Type 1 diabetes, "Journal Diabetologia", volume 47, number 4 / April, 2004. Insulin detemir Insulin detemir is a long-acting human insulin analogue for maintaining the basal level of insulin. Novo Nordisk markets it under the trade name Levemir. It is an insulin analogue in which a fatty acid (myristic acid) is bound to the lysine amino acid at position B29.