Inhaling insulin

A new inhaled form of insulin called Afrezza, developed by Mannkind Corporation has received an approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as mentioned in a leading article. The product uses dry powder that people can breathe in, to control insulin levels.

Although it has not been designed as a full-time replacement to insulin injections it can be used as an alternative to them at meal times to provide short-term effects which show their action within 12 to 15 minutes of inhaling.

In addition, there are not be used as a replacement therapy for needles or pumps just yet. Further this drug should be used with caution in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease as they may experience bronchial spasms. Also once this drug is released in the market long term studies to assess its effects on the heart, how the drug affects children and its exact mechanism of action in body need to be evaluated.

The silver lining of this drug is that it will provide respite to millions of people across the globe that have either Type 1 or 2 Diabetes and require multiple insulin injections daily to hoard of host of complications associated with the disease.