LOS ANGELES, June 17: Insulin shots may go the way of blood-letting leeches as medical science closes in on ways for diabetes patients to simply swallow or inhale the human protein, researchers said on Sunday.

Some diabetes patients can use pumps that deliver under the skin a steady stream of base-level insulin, but scientists have been working for years on ways other than painful, inconvenient injections to give the short-term doses needed at mealtimes to convert starches, sugar and other food into energy.

Early success is being seen with several different insulin-delivery options, including pills, a mouth spray, and different types of inhaled insulin, according to studies presented at a meeting in San Francisco of the American Diabetes Association. Still, all of the products are at least several years away from being commercially available.

Of the more than 17 million Americans afflicted with diabetes, the association estimates that 3.7 million need one to five insulin shots a day to control their disease.

People with diabetes, a disease that prevents the body from properly using energy from food, need extra insulin to control blood sugar levels. Untreated, diabetes can lead to blindness, heart disease, amputations or other serious complications. It is the fifth leading cause of death by disease in the United States.

Nobex Corp., in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, is developing an insulin pill that can be taken before meals — in place of injections — to control glucose from food.

A mid-stage, three-day trial of the pill in 31 patients with type 1, or juvenile, diabetes found that it matched injectable insulin in terms of glucose control, led to the same variability in response as shots and resulted in fewer hypoglycemic, or low blood sugar, events, according to Christopher Price, chief executive at Nobex.—Reuters