DIABETES PATIENTS will no longer have to endure regular insulin injections if a new aerosol product being developed by a Galway drug delivery firm is successfully brought to market.
Aerogen has announced a new partnership with San Francisco-based biotechnology company Dance Pharmaceuticals to develop a next-generation inhaled insulin product. In return for granting Dance an exclusive world licence to use its aerosol technology for insulin delivery, Aerogen will be paid development costs and an ongoing royalty stream.
It is estimated that 280 million people globally have diabetes. This is expected to increase by 50 per cent over the next 20 years as lifestyles in emerging countries becomes increasingly westernised.
“It’s an ever-enlarging problem, it’s really a healthcare epidemic,” Colin Telferd, Aerogen’s director of business development, said. “Most diabetics avoid taking insulin for years because the treatment requires multiple daily injections,” John Patton, chief executive of Dance Pharmaceuticals, said. “The consequences for the patient and the healthcare system due to that kind of delay are dramatic.”
Although the exact physical specifics of Aerogen’s insulin inhalation product had yet to be finalised, it would be a convenient, light, pocket-sized device, Mr Telferd said.
In 2006, the first inhaleable insulin delivery product, Exubera, was launched by Pfizer, having been developed by partner Nektar Therapeutics, which at the time owned Aerogen. Although a clinical success, Exubera was not commercially successful because the delivery technology proved too expensive. It was withdrawn from the market in 2007.
In 2008, Aerogen completed a management buyout from its parent Nektar.
“The need is there, the product is now there. We have the technology now at the right price and quality,” Mr Telferd said.
