Inhaling insulin - anyone heard about it?

Hi, all.

First time poster but a long time reader. I am a type 1 diabetic living in Vancouver, Canada.

A colleague from work told me about a new drug called Ollinix will be coming out this year which is a generic version of the same drug Pfizer will be selling.

But beside me, has anyone heard about this?

Took out the commercial link. Its not allowed in the forum.

Post Edited By Moderator (Warren) : 2/18/2006 4:52:43 PM (GMT-7)

Hi Chyro,

I'm a type one in Alberta and I was just asking my doc about it. Apparently the FDA has approved it in the states and i believe the company was called exubera. It will probably still be a few years before canada gets it though, look at how long it took us to get lantus! I also heard something about having troubles regulating the doses because of stuffy noses, but the way I look at it is with injecting you can have the same sort of problems when you hit a bad spot like a vein or somethimes when you pull out the needle some insulin comes too. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I personally can't wait to give it a try, hopefully it will work! Hope this was some help to ya, Robyn

I'm sorry about your multiple injections... I only do one a day and it's not too bad but I can sympathize.

In Diabetis Forcast magazine, It said it shoud be out beginning of this summer on Pharmacist shelves. Company is going to start extensive training for Doctors and than set up classes for patients.

Think of how you now take your insulin.  You put a syringe in a bottle and measure an exact amount.  This amount can vary by tiny increments, depending on your carb load or current blood sugar readings.  We have fast acting and slow acting insulin each with varying delivery times and various "life" curves. 

Now lets look at inhaled insulin.  It comes in two doses.  Lets call them medium and large.  How fast does it get into your system?  How much of the dose you received actually gets to your system?  What happens if you have a cold or bronchitis??  Well these are good questions, and questions that haven't really been answered by the folks that make inhaled insulin.  When you get such precise control with a syringe, why would you want to use a huge bulky inhaler that delivers a dose that you have no idea how much of it you are going to really absorb!!

Suck it up, use a needle and just say no to this stuff!!

Warren

::sighs::: and there was someone in chat the other day who had a quadruple bypass and really needed a heart transplant..........and was talking about needing to give up smoking .  Unfortunately, technology hasn't come to her rescue yet.

 Warren

Hi N17,

I know what your talking about.  Its a small "gun" that uses air pressure to blow the insulin (or medicine) through the skin.  I have a friend that bought one of them to administer insulin.  He told me that its not all its cracked up to be as it often causes bruising and if you happen to accidently hit a vein you can get to much insulin to fast.  So dosage control again is a problem.  He also mentioned that its not nearly as portable as a syringe and therefore not as convenient for going out.  Think of taking a BB gun, loading it with  so "soft gel" of insulin, putting it against your arm and pulling the trigger.  That in effect is what you're talking about. (or at least what we have in practice).  In many ways, the injection is actually more comfortable.

Here is the MEDIJECTOR, a needle-less injection system.  And here are a users review/comments so you have another opinion besides my friends. REVIEW 

 Warren