New insulin inhaler design
I couldn't resist this. Apparently B&O has a division called Medicom. They've designed a new inhaled insulin delivery device called the Insulair
This is clearly meant to steal the huge market share of the Exubera insulin bong. Personally I think the issues with the Exubera was the silly marketing name. Why not just come out and call it the exuberant bong. I can see the name designers say "We can use the slogan - Get a hit from your insulin!". Hah
B&O is well known for their product design, I can't help thinking this one might actually stand a chance. Though from a Google search it's not clear whether this is just a design concept like the Charmr or a real product that's not yet available.
Labels: charmr, design, inhaler, insulin
posted by Bernard @ 1:01 PM
7 Comments:
Hah, Insulin Bong. Classic. :-P
Bernard,
The big problem with Exubera is that according to the manufacturer's information for doctors, it is supposed to be dosed by the patient's weight. Not the carb intake.
And the dose units aren't linear. Two doses much isn't the same as twice the power of one.
If there was some way of dosing it to equate carb intake, it would make a lot more sense. It sounds like it would be very hard to anything near tight control.
It might stand a chance as a device, but what goes in it needs some work!
Before anyone lynches me, I know there is a subset of patients using Exubera who are very happy with it, but there is no doubt it is far from a roaring success. Jenny has raised the major point above and a quick search for Exubera will raise many more.
It looks like a snazzy device, but they may be better focusing on having it adopted for more established inhaled drugs - those for asthma being the obvious choice.
The fact is that abandoning the worldwide standard of dosage (units) in favor of blisters equivalent to about 3 units contributed to Exubera's death. What endo wants to convert dosages for a Pfizer brand and using a standard for everyone else's brands? There are many reasons for Exubera's failure, but I would say that Pfizer's lack of knowledge about the market was the single biggest reason. Its not Viagra here, its hormone replacement -- not the same thing!
Years ago I was a camp counselor at a camp for boys with diabetes. One of my campers was in a trial for inhaled insulin. I remember a medical professional saying that long term it didn't seem like a good solution. He said that inhaling such large protein particles could damage lung function in the long term. Does anyone know if this is a commonly held long term fear?
I have been on the Exubera for a year and half and had better control over my diabetes than ever before. After 23 years of 4 injections a day it was nice to be away from that for a while. I am quite disappointed that it is being removed from the market. Yes, there are concerns over lung function, but I took the lung tests every six months and had no decrease in lung function. I simply had better tighter control of my blood sugars which is the goal for every diabetic. I hope that one day the decision to pull it from the market will be reversed and diabetics will once again have an opportunity not to have to inject themselves 4 times a day.
My husband has been on Exubera for 6 months now. He was really happy that he could do the inhaler instead of the injections. His numbers have been on target and exubera has been very easy for him to use. We are both so disappointed that Pfitzer is taking it off the market. Knowing that the reason for taking it off is because they don't feel they are making enough money. How sad that Pfitzer doesn't have enough concern about the patients who take this drug to keep it around. I think Pfitzer could afford having a drug out there that will probably in a few years catch on even more - especially in light of the rise in diabetes II. Shame on them for taking this away.
Greed rears its ugly head again!!
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