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  • Inhalable Insulin Approved By The FDA

    Inhalable Insulin Approved By The FDA

    For people suffering from diabetes, getting the insulin they need can be an inconvenient task.

    Most people are forced to give themselves shots in order to help regulate their blood sugar, and many long for an easier and more convenient method.

    The FDA has recently approved a new medication, inhalable insulin.

    The insulin is available in small single-use cartridges. Each cartridge contains a dose of powdered insulin that can be inhaled quickly, easily and more importantly, painlessly. The medication is called Afrezza.

    The drug maker says the powder should be inhaled within 20 minutes of the start of a meal, and can take as little as 12 to 15 minutes to go into effect. Injectable insulin takes about half an hour.

    The new inhalable insulin will be easier to store, carry and use and will make it much easier for adults with diabetes to get the insulin they need without having to use a needle to inject it into their bodies.

    It can be used anywhere, but will definitely come in handy for those who like to travel or need to take insulin while at work or out and about.

    The new packaging will also make the insulin more discrete and the small cartridges can be stored in pockets, purses and even gym bags.

    The FDA says that the new drug should be used with traditional insulin medications and should not be a substitute. Although the drug has been approved, studies are still being conducted to determine the side effects of the medicine when it is taken long term.

    There have been numerous attempts to create inhalable insulin in the past, but none of them worked out. It took over three years for Afrezza to be approved from the time it was first submitted.

    Right now, the drug is only approved for adults, but it is possible that a similar medication will be available for children in the near future.

    Do you think inhalable insulin is a good idea?

    Image via News Inc.

  • Insulin Pump Sensors Reduce Hypoglycemia, Shows Study

    A new study published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that certain sensors on insulin pumps can significantly decrease hypoglycemic episodes in those with type 1 diabetes. The sensors in question detect when blood sugar falls below a certain level, then cuts off insulin delivery.

    The study looked at 95 type 1 diabetes patients from late 2009 to the beginning of 2012, giving them either standard insulin pumps or insulin pumps with automated low-glucose sensors. Specifically, researchers chose type 1 diabetes patients with “impaired awareness” of hypoglycemia. These types of patients are seen as being more at-risk for hypoglycemic episodes, and around one-third of type 1 diabetes sufferers are estimated to have impaired awareness of hypoglycemia.

    The study found that patients with the low-blood-sugar sensors with automatic insulin cut-offs had fewer severe and moderate hypoglycemia events than those with standard insulin pumps. The total number of hypoglycemic events in the group with the sensors fell from 175 in 6 months to only 35.

    “These findings suggest that automated insulin suspension can reduce the incidence of hypoglycemic events in those most at risk, that is, those with impaired awareness of hypoglycemia,” wrote the study’s authors.

    The study’s authors are hoping that the study provides doctors with the evidence they need to recommend insulin pumps with low-glucose sensors. In particular, such sensors could, through automation, reduce the incidence of hypoglycemic diabetic shock for type 1 diabetes patients who have trouble managing their blood sugar.

    “These data can now be used to evaluate the health economic benefits of this therapy and also can be used by clinicians, payers, and regulatory authorities to help make this therapy and technology more widely available to patients who struggle daily with hypoglycemia,” said Dr. Pratik Choudhary, a diabetes lecturer at King’s College London and the author of an editorial accompanying the new study in today’s JAMA.

    (Image courtesy the Washington Endocrine Clinic)

  • Insulin Treatments for Diabetes May Become Obsolete

    Type-1 diabetes is a medical condition in which patients suffer from a deficiency of insulin, produced in the islets of Langerhans region of the pancreas. Insulin is responsible for regulating the metabolism of energy in the body, primarily in the form of glucose. Insulin takes glucose from the blood, which in high levels can become toxic, and stores it as glycogen in the liver and muscles. If one suffers from a deficiency of insulin, their body cannot properly regulate levels of glucose, and therefore patients must inject necessary insulin into their bodies.

    This month has seen multiple studies released which discuss ways in which scientists are trying to eliminate the need of insulin injections for type-1 diabetes patients, allowing them to live a more regulated and relaxed life.

    In a report released by The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, scientists have reported that a former skin-drug may be helpful as a treatment for type-1 diabetes. The drug, Alefacept, has been traditionally used to treat psoriasis, another auto-immune disorder in which the immune system attacks healthy skin cells. When the drug is injected into patients with type-1 diabetes, it attacks the T-cells which are responsible for attacking insulin-producing cells. Following a 36-week trial, patients who had injected themselves with alefacept were able to regulate their insulin levels much better than those who had not received the injections. Researchers at Indiana University said that the results exhibited a small success, but that alefacept “could be used to stabilise type 1 diabetes and prevent its progression”.

    A second trial also uses an alternative drug to deal with the issue of insulin deficiency. Researchers at the University of Geneva have discovered that those who suffer from type-1 diabetes can potentially live a life without insulin. The team of researches injected leptin, a hormone which regulates fat reserves and appetite, to a group of rodents which suffered from insulin-deficiency. The results showed much promise toward humans being able to live a life free of insulin, which has the negative side affects of hypoglycemia and is lypogenic (fat-inducing). On the converse, leptin does not cause hypoglycemia and is lypolitic (fat-reducing). The rats injected with leptin were able to live normal lives without insulin, perhaps because leptin and its glucose-regulating properties are controlled by the hypothalamus, a region of the brain not involved as a cause of insulin-deficiency.

    The third major report concerning insulin showcases progress made with islets transplants in the pancreas. In islets transplantation, insulin-producing cells are taken from a donor pancreas and implanted into the liver of one suffering from type-1 diabetes. This technique has been met with mixed reviews in the past. However, scientists have made progress toward making the process more efficient. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a new technique in which they rest the donated cells for a period of three days before transplanting them into the patient. This resting period allows the cells to get over their period of irritation and inflation, reducing the chances that they will be rejected by the body. Through this method, scientists have seen better results using a smaller number of cells. This method seems to be the most promising considering the fact that if it is perfected, it would mean type-1 diabetes patients would be able to naturally regulate their insulin levels without having to hope for a pancreas transplant.

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