Insulin Mouth Spray Works Fast, Study Shows
Insulin Mouth Spray Works Fast, Study Shows
Insulin Product Sprayed Inside Cheek, Still Awaits Approval
The bottom line: Oral-lyn started working faster -- and quit working sooner -- than injections of regular insulin. The more puffs of insulin people sprayed into their mouths, the more insulin they had in their blood. The findings appear in the June issue of Diabetes Care.
That's good news, says Robert Rizza, MD, the newly installed president of the American Diabetes Association. Rizza is professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, nutrition, and metabolism at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn.
"In order to control blood sugar, you have to have a match between how quickly blood sugar goes up after you eat and how quickly insulin goes up," Rizza tells WebMD. "This paper shows a pretty good match. This gives yet another, perhaps a more convenient way to get that needed profile."
Insulin is one of the great breakthroughs for modern medicine. It's already saving untold numbers of lives. But are these new forms of insulin really something that will help patients?
Yes, says Rizza.
"Anything that makes insulin simpler and easier to take is a major step forward," he says. "Many people's blood sugars are higher than need be. But they wait too long to start taking insulin and subject their bodies to harm. So anything that allows you to control your blood sugar sooner is likely to be a benefit."
While the Oral-lyn product looks promising, Rizza notes that many other products are working their way through the clinical trial process.
"A lot of imaginative ways have been come up with to get insulin into the body," he says. "If they work out, it will be up to the individual person to decide what form is most convenient."
Bernstein says that Oral-lyn will soon be licensed in Ecuador, where diabetes researcher Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, MD, has been conducting clinical studies. Within the year, Bernstein expects definitive clinical trials to begin in Canada and in Europe. Still larger trials -- yet to be planned or even funded -- would be needed for U.S. approval.
Insulin Mouth Spray Works Fast, Study Shows
Insulin Product Sprayed Inside Cheek, Still Awaits Approval
What's on the Horizon continued...
The bottom line: Oral-lyn started working faster -- and quit working sooner -- than injections of regular insulin. The more puffs of insulin people sprayed into their mouths, the more insulin they had in their blood. The findings appear in the June issue of Diabetes Care.
That's good news, says Robert Rizza, MD, the newly installed president of the American Diabetes Association. Rizza is professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, nutrition, and metabolism at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn.
"In order to control blood sugar, you have to have a match between how quickly blood sugar goes up after you eat and how quickly insulin goes up," Rizza tells WebMD. "This paper shows a pretty good match. This gives yet another, perhaps a more convenient way to get that needed profile."
Is This Trip Really Necessary?
Insulin is one of the great breakthroughs for modern medicine. It's already saving untold numbers of lives. But are these new forms of insulin really something that will help patients?
Yes, says Rizza.
"Anything that makes insulin simpler and easier to take is a major step forward," he says. "Many people's blood sugars are higher than need be. But they wait too long to start taking insulin and subject their bodies to harm. So anything that allows you to control your blood sugar sooner is likely to be a benefit."
While the Oral-lyn product looks promising, Rizza notes that many other products are working their way through the clinical trial process.
"A lot of imaginative ways have been come up with to get insulin into the body," he says. "If they work out, it will be up to the individual person to decide what form is most convenient."
Bernstein says that Oral-lyn will soon be licensed in Ecuador, where diabetes researcher Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, MD, has been conducting clinical studies. Within the year, Bernstein expects definitive clinical trials to begin in Canada and in Europe. Still larger trials -- yet to be planned or even funded -- would be needed for U.S. approval.
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