This study compared the safety and effectiveness of inhaled insulin with injected insulin. This study concluded that inhaled insulin was as effective as injected, with less incidence of very low blood glucose levels, but with higher incidence of cough.

Currently, the typical treatment for type 1 diabetes (T1D), and for many patients with type 2 diabetes, involves daily insulin injections. Multiple different types of insulin are available. Rapid insulin is quickly absorbed and fast acting. It is used to supply the insulin needed during mealtimes. Long-acting insulin is released slowly over a period of 8 to 24 hours and supplies basal levels of insulin needed during the day. Unfortunately, insulin injections can be difficult for many people. They can be uncomfortable, painful and embarrassing. There is also the fear of injecting too much insulin and causing hypoglycemia, where blood sugar levels are dangerously low. Even mild hypoglycemia can be a frightening experience.

However, there is now an alternative to insulin injections. Technosphere insulin can be inhaled into the lungs. This treatment was FDA-approved for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in June 2015. 

The current study compared the safety and effectiveness of inhaled insulin to rapid-acting insulin that is injected.

This study included 345 T1D patients randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group (171 patients) were treated with the typical rapid-acting insulin via daily injections. The other group (174 patients) were treated with insulin via an inhaler. Both groups still needed injections of long-acting insulin. The groups were treated for 24 weeks. After this, patients returned to their usual treatments but were monitored for a further 4 weeks.

Overall the effectiveness of the inhalable insulin was similar to the injectable insulin. Patients in both groups saw a similar decrease in HbA1c (average blood glucose levels over 3 months) levels. 31.6% of patients taking the inhalable insulin had a cough, compared with only 2.3% of the patients receiving the injectable insulin. Hypoglycemia occured less often in the patients taking the inhalable insulin. However, more patients treated with the injectable insulin (30.7%) reached their HbA1c  target goals than the patients taking the inhalable form (18.3%).  

This study conlcuded that the effectiveness of the inhalable insulin was equivalent to the injectable form, but with less hypoglycemia occurring and increased coughing.

MannKind Corporation funded this study. They are the developers of Technosphere technology.

Talk to your doctor about this recently FDA-approved inhalable insulin treatment.