Inhaled insulin Exubera discontinued

Exubera, an inhaled insulin product for diabetes, has been withdrawn from the market by Pfizer Inc, which is taking a $2.8 billion charge to end its involvement with the poorly selling drug, leading to a sharp fall in third-quarter earnings, the company said Thursday.

Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan said Pfizer's abandonment of Exubera, with revenues so far this year of only $12 million, was irrelevant from a financial perspective.

"They tested the patient (Exubera) and there was no pulse, so it's going from zero to zero," she said

Exubera, designed for the treatment of diabetes type 1 or 2 had, "simply not found the acceptance of doctors and patients," Chief Executive Jeff Kindler told analysts on a conference call.

"We will carefully evaluate what happened here," Kindler said, referring to the unpopularity of the product. Moreover, he said Pfizer will halt further research on second-generation forms of inhaled insulin.

Exubera, developed in partnership with Nektar Therapeutics, was approved by U.S. regulators in January 2006 and made history as the first form of inhaled insulin. Other companies are trying to develop similar products.

New York-based Pfizer said it would return its worldwide Exubera rights to Nektar, and work with doctors over the next three months to switch Exubera patients to other diabetes treatments.

After being launched, many investors assumed Exubera would become a sure-fire blockbuster on the theory that diabetics would prefer an inhaled form of insulin over traditional injectable forms of the hormone used to control blood sugar.

Instead, Exubera became a dud, with paltry sales. Some analysts speculated the bulky canister device used to administer the powdered drug was a problem for patients.