Exubera Information

Approved by the FDA, inhaled powder insulin to hit the market

For the first time since insulin was discovered in the 1920s, diabetes sufferers requiring insulin therapy may have an alternative to meal-time injections.

Recently approved for sale in both the United States and Europe, Exubera is the first fast-acting inhaled powder insulin to hit the market.

A result of collaboration between Pfizer Inc., Nektar Therapeutics and Aventis, Exubera has been hailed as a major advance for people suffering from both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. As the first non-injectable insulin, Exubera is inhaled into the lungs before meals using a hand held device.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, which is a hormone needed to convert food into energy. The cause is not known, although both environmental factors such as obesity as well as genetics seem to have bearing on a diagnosis.

Prior to Exubera’s release, diabetics who needed to keep their blood sugars under control required multiple daily insulin injections. Although alternatives have been investigated in the form of patches, pumps and oral formulations, insulin injections have always been considered the most reliable way to treat diabetes patients.

One of the challenges in delivering insulin directly to the lungs is that most insulin sprayed through the mouth never reaches the lungs and may stay in the throat and/or mouth.

Exubera is administered using Nektar Therapeutics proprietary inhalation technology which brings the insulin to the lungs and helps it enter the blood stream more quickly than injection. The device through which Exubera is inhaled does not require batteries or electricity.

The American Diabetes Association estimates that 20.8 million children and adults in the United States, or about 7 per cent of the population, suffer from diabetes. About one-third of them have not been diagnosed.

If left untreated, diabetes can lead to heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, amputations and premature death.

 

 

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