Inhaled Insulin Feasible For Diabetes Therapy

Aradigm Corp of the USA has reported the results of a study whichsuggest that it may be possible to deliver insulin by inhalation in order to control post-prandial glucose levels in people with diabetes. The results were presented last month at a meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in San Francisco, California, by the firm's vice president of R&D, Igor Gonda.

Dr Gonda told the meeting that the study compared the time to maximum blood insulin levels, as well as the time to maximum reduction in blood glucose levels, between insulin delivered by inhalation and insulin delivered by subcutaneous injection, in healthy, fasting volunteers. Each subject received insulin in two settings, one while taking a deep breath and one while taking a more shallow breath.

The time to maximum insulin levels and blood glucose reduction was significantly shorter in the deep-breath group than either the shallow-breath or the subcutaneous injection groups, noted Dr Gonda. This provides important evidence that the inhaled route is a feasible means of bypassing the need for injections, but also emphasizes the importance of a good inhalation technique.