Exubera outperforms injectable insulin

New data presented at the American Diabetes Associ-ation meeting inPhiladelphia have shown that more patients with type 2 diabetes who were treated with the inhaled insulin product Exubera, developed by Inhale Therapeutics, Aventis and Pfizer, achieved recommended blood glucose levels than those receiving insulin injections. The 299-patient, six-month study compared Exubera to injectable insulin given before meals, with an additional insulin injection given at bedtime, and found that more patients on Exubera achieved the ADA's treatment target hemoglobin A1c level of 7%.

...but Ab response sparks share price fall

Despite the encouraging HbA1c data, shares in Inhale fell 22% to $27.03 after it emerged that four times as many patients in the Exubera group (20.4%) developed antibodies to their insulin compared to those on injectable products only (5.1%), raising questions about the treatment's long-term efficacy. Analysts described the market's reaction as overblown, noting that there was no evidence that the presence of the antibodies led to a reduction in insulin activity, and it is already known that many patients on injectable insulin develop antibodies on initiation of therapy, which recede with time.