Given these findings, senior investigator Dr. Tim Heise said that, inhaled insulin "should be very well suited to cover prandial insulin needs."

Dr. Heise of the Profil Institut fur Stoffwechselforschung GmbH, Neuss and colleagues note that although inhaled insulin appears to have desirable qualities, it has not been directly compared with fast-acting insulin lispro or regular insulin.

The researchers therefore conducted an open-label, three-way crossover study with 17 healthy volunteers who were randomized to 6 mg of inhaled insulin, 18 units of lispro or 18 units of regular insulin. "Glucose infusion rates and serum insulin concentrations were monitored over 10 hours," the investigators report.

As noted, inhaled insulin had a significantly faster onset of action than the other agents. The time to maximal effect was similar to that of insulin lispro but was shorter than regular insulin.

These findings suggest that the "intensification of basal insulin supplementation -- required to improve glycemic control with short-acting insulin analogues -- may not be necessary with inhaled insulin," Dr. Heise said.

Source: Diabetes In Control.com: Diabetes Care 2005;28:1077-1082.

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