In what appears to be the longest inhaled insulin trial to date, a Scottish hospital is currently recruiting Type 2 diabetics for a two-year study of inhaled insulin.

The Edinburgh Evening News reports that the study at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary teaching hospital is seeking Type 2’s for the study.

Scotland Currently Rejected Inhaled Insulin For Nat’l Health Service Drug Formulary List

A Scottish drug forumlary committee listed inhaled insulin in an October-November 2006 report on new drugs that included inhaled insulin.  Evaluations by both the Scottish Medical Consortium (’SMC’) and the Lothian Recommendation and Forumarly Committee (from Scotland’s National Health Service) concluded, at that time, that inhaled insulin was not recommended for use by diabetics.

Only 8 Diabetics Currently Enrolled in the Drug Trial

Very few diabetics are currently enrolled in the trial.  At present there are only eight (8): four who are using inhaled insulin, and four taking subcutaneous insulin injections.
‘Needle Phobia’ Emphasized

It appears that a big push is being made by the head of the Scottish study to emphasize ‘needle phobia’ as a reason for enrolling in the study. The Infirmary’s Dr. Nicola Zammitt believes that “inhaled insulin could represent a major breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes for those with bad needle phobias.”

This has been a major emphasis by pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer when trying to get regulatory approval for inhaled insulin, and seems a likely component of any future Exubera Direct to Consumer (’DTC’) marketing and advertising campaigns.

Unclear Which Drugmaker is Conducted the Inhaled Insulin Trial

It is currently unclear exactly which pharmaceutical company is participating in the Scottish inhaled insulin trial.  It could be Pfizer, Inc.’s Exubera, Novo-Nordisk’s AERx inhaler, Mannkind’s Technosphere inhaled insulin, or AIR inhaled insulin which is being jointly developed by Alkermes & Eli Lilly & Co.