Drug Inhalation Devices for Delivery of Insulin
New medical technologies that are now in late-stage testing would allow diabetics to painlessly inhale insulin through a flashlight-size device that works much like an asthma inhaler. The inhaler allows a powder form of insulin to move into the patient's bloodstream through the lungs. This convenient, painless method would likely reduce or eliminate the need for injections and may well increase patient compliance with insulin therapy, thus improving their health.
"Diabetes is a Silent Killer." That's a quote from the American Diabetes Association, which warns that many people only become aware that they have diabetes when they are confronted by its life-threatening complications, including blindness, kidney disease, nerve disease and amputation, and heart disease and stroke.
- Diabetes is a disease in which the body is not able to produce or properly use insulin. Thus, using hypodermic needles, diabetics inject themselves with insulin one or more times a day. Because it is painful and inconvenient, many do not comply.
Diabetes is Widespread and Costly: There are about 150 million diabetics worldwide, roughly 2 percent of the world population. That number is expected to exceed 250 million within 25 years, due to unhealthy lifestyles. Some 16 million Americans suffer from the disease.
- Diabetes costs the US almost $100 billion annually, one of the most costly diseases in this country. The direct costs of diabetes in 1997 were $44 billion, while indirect costs were estimated at $54 billion.
- In 1997, diabetes led to almost 88 million disability days. This included 14 million work loss days from jobs outside of the home. A total of 74,927 workers were disabled permanently due to diabetes in 1997.
- On average, individuals aged 18-64 with diabetes lost 8.3 days from work as compared with 1.7 days for people without the disease.
Promising Results: Recent studies have found that inhaled insulin works in reducing the need for injections and in improving patient satisfaction.
- One study released in September 2000, found that patients with Type 1 diabetes - patients whose bodies do not create insulin - were able to reduce their daily injections from two or three shots to only one. It also found that Type 2 diabetes patients - those whose bodies are unable to properly use insulin - experienced the same benefit from the inhaler device, thus replacing all but one of their daily injections. Patients with Type 2 diabetes whose condition was not being controlled well with pills and faced having injections as a result, were able to avoid needles altogether with the use of the insulin inhaler.
Inhaled insulin improves patient satisfaction, according to a recent study published in the May 2000, Diabetes.
- "Inhaled insulin results in greater global patient satisfaction than conventional subcutaneous insulin with ease of use, comfort, and convenience being the items that were significantly improved. These results are encouraging in that improved satisfaction may, in clinical practice, increase willingness of patients to initiate and comply with insulin therapy and hence achieve glycemic control."
|