One in ten may benefit!

One in 10 people may benefit from the new insulin inhaler that’s just been recommended for approval by an expert FDA Advisory Committee.

There are 18.5 million people with diabetes in the USA, and another 41 million who have so-called pre-diabetes, so that, with the anticipated increase in obesity, we can expect a 20% incidence of diabetes (type 2) before long. And half of them may eventually require insulin, whether they are type 1 or type 2.

Little wonder that the new insulin inhaler has been called a ‘major breakthrough’. No one likes needles, and diabetics – of both types – have been injecting themselves with insulin several times daily, for years. The first insulin inhaler comes from a consortium of drug developers: Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, and Nektar Therapeutics. It’s likely that Nektar did most of the development work, while the two Big Pharma corporations will provide the marketing skills. No matter. They will soon be joined by competitors; that should bring the price down to a level that Medicare can afford to subsidize.

The real answer to tackling diabetes is, of course, a change in lifestyle, early enough to prevent the occurrence of pre-diabetes leading to type 2 diabetes. Then items like the Glucowatch® _{^{and the insulin inhaler will be required by fewer people, and can be made more readily available.}}