Molecular and Materials Engineering for Delivery of Peptide Drugs to Treat Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is exploding globally. Despite numerous treatment options, nearly half of type 2 diabetics are unsuccessful at properly managing the disease, primarily due to a lack of patient compliance, driven by adverse side effects as well as complicated and frequent dosing schedules. Improving the delivery of type 2 diabetes drugs has the potential to increase patient compliance and thus, greatly enhance health outcomes and quality of life. This review focuses on molecular and materials engineering strategies that have been implemented to improve the delivery of peptide drugs to treat type 2 diabetes. Peptide drugs benefit from high potency and specificity but suffer from instability and short half-lives that limit their utility as therapeutics and pose a significant delivery challenge. Several approaches have been developed to improve the availability and efficacy of antidiabetic peptides and proteins in vivo. These methods are reviewed herein and include devices, which sustain the release of peptides in long term, and molecular engineering strategies, which prolong circulation time and slow the release of therapeutic peptides. By optimizing the delivery of these peptides and proteins using these approaches, long-term glucose control can be achieved in type 2 diabetes patients.