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Breakthrough Topical Insulin Treatment Eliminates Injections

11/20/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Researchers at Zhejiang University developed a topical insulin treatment that could eliminate invasive injections.
The approach uses a polymer called OP to enable insulin's skin penetration through the pH gradient.
In mice and minipigs, the OP-insulin conjugate (OP-I) normalized glucose within hours and remained stable for 12 hours.
Nature published the findings, which show minimal side effects and potential for delivering other biomolecules.

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Story summary

Researchers at Zhejiang University developed a topical insulin treatment that could eliminate invasive injections.
The approach uses a polymer called OP to enable insulin's skin penetration through the pH gradient.
In mice and minipigs, the OP-insulin conjugate (OP-I) normalized glucose within hours and remained stable for 12 hours.
Nature published the findings, which show minimal side effects and potential for delivering other biomolecules.