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Post by harryx1 on May 18, 2015 8:32:09 GMT -5
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Post by savzak on May 18, 2015 10:11:43 GMT -5
Affreza: A boon for diabetics on insulin By Dr. Francisco Colaço | 18 May, 2015, 11:59PM IST Bryan Adams, the multiplatinum-selling singer songwriter who suffered from diabetes wrote, “Trying to manage diabetes is hard, but manage you must, because if you don't, there are consequences you'll have to deal with later in life”. Fortunately, with the newer advances in medicine, diabetes has become ever more manageable and diabetics can now add years to life and life to years. Diabetes mellitus is caused by a deficiency of the pancreatic hormone insulin. It can lead to a number of metabolic disturbances and when left untreated it may cause severe dehydration, acidosis, convulsions and coma. Diabetes has been recognized as a distinct medical condition for at least 3,500 years, but its cause was a mystery until early this century. In the early 1920s, researchers strongly suspected that diabetes was caused by a malfunction of the pancreas gland, a small organ that sits on top of the liver. But the biggest breakthrough came in 1921 when Frederick Banting and Charles Best showed that removing the pancreas from dogs made them diabetic. In January, 1922, a diabetic teenager in a Toronto hospital named Leonard Thompson became the first person to receive an injection of insulin. He improved dramatically, and the news about insulin spread around the world like wildfire. For their work, Banting and Best received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Although nowadays there are various oral drugs that can treat diabetes, insulin remains the cornerstone of diabetes management. Insulin is obtained from “pork pancreas” or is made chemically identical to “human insulin” by recombinant DNA technology. Insulin is available in injectable form and through a gentle needle poke it is delivered into the subcutaneous tissue (tissue under the skin). Insulins are available in rapid-, short-, intermediate-, and long-acting types that may be injected separately or mixed in the same syringe. Several pen-like devices and insulin-containing cartridges are available that deliver insulin subcutaneously through a fine-bore needle allowing for almost a painless prick. In many patients, especially those who are neurologically impaired and those using multiple daily injection regimens, these devices have been demonstrated to improve accuracy of insulin administration and adherence. For many years now scientists are working hard to make insulin available in a non-injectable form to obviate the inconvenience of a needle-prick. Recently, in an extraordinary effort, “Insulin inhalers” were discovered. Insulin inhalers convert a dose of dry insulin using compressed air, providing particles which may then be inhaled. This process is called “aerosolization”. There are also insulin inhalers who are activated with the breath. The insulin dose, in powdered form, is inhaled directly through the mouth into the lungs. The fact that inhaled insulin is breathed into the lungs means that insulin doses, taken by inhaler, can enter the bloodstream much quicker than the quickest available injectable insulin. On February 3, 2015, the medical world was ecstatic when the drug “Affreza” - after completing several medical trials - began to be commercially available. It was an eureka moment and those in the know unanimously cried out, “Friends at least now we can take a deep breath and utter a sigh of relief. The world’s first commercially available inhalable insulin product is here at long last.” Sanofi who won the badge of honour had finally launched Afrezza, Housed in a tiny, handy inhaler device, Afrezza brought not only convenience, but also some new medical benefits to the world of rapid-acting insulin”. Dr. Steve Edelman of San Diego and one of the lead investigators of Afrezza clinical trials, remarked with a sense of relief, “I don’t know if it’s going to be a blockbuster, but I am certain it’s going to have a niche. Besides its rapid onset of action and peak, the drug is pretty much gone in 3 hours emulating, in essence, what the a normal pancreas does." Dr. Bode, another investigator, said, “Afrezza compares well with rapid-acting insulin and controls blood sugar equally well. More important, Afrezza is less likely to cause hypoglycemia, a complication of insulin use. In practice, however, Afrezza has apparently failed to live upto its reputation and its future already looked bleak in the wake of poor sales of the firm's much anticipated flagship product. With only $1.1 million in net U.S. sales during its first 7 weeks on the market, the firm's inhaled insulin device Afrezza looked like a dud. The sales figures were released by Sanofi, which markets the product, in its first quarter earnings report. “These results are terribly disappointing, considering the size of the market", said a company representative. Diabetic patients despite all still seem to prefer a pen-prick of nearly painless insulin injection to inhaling a growth factor into their lungs. And this does not bode well for Sanofi’s future prospects given their extremely high expense level of $200 million per year, which is in desperate need for Afrezza to be a blockbuster. Eventually, Sanofi’s stocks tumbled down and hit a one year low after its pompous release. It is obvious that the final chapter about inhaled Insulins has not yet been written. Only time will tell. Meanwhile, those who have diabetes need not despair. We already have an array of drugs at our disposal. All that is needed is a positive approach and the determination not to allow diabetes stand in the way of making our lives more livable and enjoyable. (Dr. Francisco Colaço is a seniormost consulting physician.) |
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Post by james on May 18, 2015 12:16:06 GMT -5
Pompous release?
7 weeks of data and it's called a dud?
rush to judgement much?
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Post by liane on May 18, 2015 12:19:22 GMT -5
Pompous release? 7 weeks of data and it's called a dud? rush to judgement much? My thoughts exactly! |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2015 13:18:30 GMT -5
Pompous release? 7 weeks of data and it's called a dud? rush to judgement much? the dud is an article from the states (forget what fud broadcaster piped up first - I think it was the street), looks like it was just picked up in another language. |
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