SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio diabetics are helping test the next generation of insulin. It’s a drug you inhale instead of inject.
For patients who need blood sugar control, injected insulin is a wonder drug. Often, though, it doesn’t work fast enough at meal time.
Enter a trial device, the Gen2 inhaler by MannKind Corporation, filled with fine powder sucked directly into the lungs.
“It’s a very unique fine powder of human insulin that’s in a special vehicle that makes it the fastest insulin on the planet,” explained San Antonio endocrinologist Dr. Sam Miller.
Sharon Spears of Medina Lake is a type 2 diabetic who has signed up to be part of the study. She likes the idea of a handy, fast-acting drug for her chronic health problem. She said it seems easy to carry and easy to use.
“I thought it was pretty awesome because I know that’s one thing that my mother hated was giving herself the injections,” Spears said. “And that’s one thing that I didn’t ever want to do but it could come down the road.”
Controlling blood sugar levels is key to avoiding many of the devastating side effects of diabetes like blindness and kidney damage.
Miller said he’s hopeful this new inhaled insulin will be a breakthrough for millions of patients.
“This is a late phase study,” Miller stated. “We hope that it’s the pre-approval study for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. And the results have been extremely impressive.”
Miller’s office is still signing up volunteers for the study. For more information, call (210) 614-4800.
Spears doesn’t mind being one of the first to try this new delivery system.
“If it could help my children and my grandchildren down the road that would be an awesome gift,” she commented.
Five years ago, there was an inhaled insulin on the market, but it was pulled because it was no better than shots and it was cumbersome.
If approved, this new whistle-sized device could be on the market in a couple of years.
For more information about the study, call (877) 232-9178 or go to www.YourDiabetesStudy.com.
