Inhaler option makes insulin more acceptable

Giving patients who have type 2 diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes, the option of using an insulin inhaler may help them comply with insulin treatment recommendations, new findings suggest.

The study was funded by Pfizer and Aventis, which are developing inhaled insulin under the trade name Exubera. Experts have predicted the drug may be on the market later this year or sometime in 2006.

As reported in the medical journal Diabetes Care, Dr. Nick Freemantle, from the University of Birmingham in the UK, and colleagues assessed the rate of insulin usage among 779 diabetics who received educational information on currently licensed treatments with or without information on inhaled insulin.

All of the subjects in the study had type 2 diabetes for at least 3 months and had inadequate control of their sugar levels despite being on therapy, according to the report.

After receiving the information materials, patients were surveyed about their treatment preferences.

Forty-three percent of patients given information about licensed drug treatments and inhaled insulin preferred a treatment that included insulin. By contrast, just 16 percent of patients who were told only about licensed treatment (including insulin injections) selected some form of insulin therapy.

Although all patients had less than optimal control of their sugar levels, those in the inhaled insulin group were more likely to consider changing their current treatment regimen than were those who were told only about licensed therapies.

In both groups, as the number of anti-diabetes pills currently taken rose, so did the likelihood of selecting an insulin therapy. However, this trend was more pronounced in the group given information on inhaled insulin than in the comparison group.

Having inhaled insulin as a treatment option may help "overcome patient aversion to insulin therapy, and its availability may thus enable patients to act in accordance with the recommendations of their physicians," the authors note.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, February 2005.