Exubera blown away!5 Nov 2007

Inhaled insulin no longer available

The world's first inhaled insulin has gone almost as soon as it arrived. When Exubera was introduced, many people thought that it could have a small niche for those who genuinely could not face or for some other reason could not have injections. High costs and poor sales have now resulted in the withdrawal of the product. According to Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler, Exubera " ... failed to gain acceptance among patients and physicians."

Now, if patients need insulin, they have no choice but injections - the situation that has ruled for 85 years since insulin was first used to treat diabetes.

As always, the Primary Care Training Centre is quick to follow developments and Exubera has been removed from the latest printing of the Distance Learning Pack for "Diabetes Management in Primary Care", and from all the study days that we offer.