Exubera, The Inhaled Insulin Passes FDA

The US Food and Drug Administration has accepted a new drug application by Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer of the United States for Exubera, a dry powder form of insulin that is inhaled into the lungs prior to eating. The companies want to provide Exubera to adult patients with type 1 (the most serious) and type 2 diabetes, a joint statement said.

Exubera is currently also under review by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency.

The treatment has been tested on more than 3,400 patients, some for more than seven years, the statement said.
"It is estimated that nearly 180 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, and the number is expected to rise to 300 million people in the next 20 years," it added.

Diabetes and associated complications cost more than USD 100 million (EUR 75 million) per year in the US, the drug companies said.

================================

FACT:
Fibrate Plus a Statin Effective for Combined Hyperlipidemia: Results of a new study provide more evidence, in a larger population of patients, that the combination of a fibrate and a statin is an effective therapeutic option for managing combined hyperlipidemia — that is, elevated triglycerides and LDL-C and multiple lipoprotein abnormalities. Compared with simvastatin alone, the combination of simvastatin and fenofibrate further lowered triglycerides and VLDL-C by 23.6% and 25.1%, respectively, and raised HDL-C by 18.6% compared with baseline. The increase in HDL-C with combination therapy was twice that observed with solo simvastatin. Am J Cardiol 2005;95:462-468.