Lilly and MannKind Inc. are planning to sell inhaled insulin even after Novo Nordisk dropped its product this week and said diabetics are better off using injections.
Pfizer Inc. stopped selling its inhaled product, Exubera, in November and Novo, the world's largest insulin producer, said Jan. 14 it would no longer develop its system, called AERx.
Pfizer Inc. stopped selling its inhaled product, Exubera, in November and Novo, the world's largest insulin producer, said Jan. 14 it would no longer develop its system, called AERx.
Lilly, the first company to market insulin, said it will succeed because its device is easier to use. Mannkind says studies show its system helps patients lose weight.
Lilly and Mannkind officials said in interviews that diabetics will embrace their needle-free alternative even though they didn't like Exubera. Doctors and patients complained that Exubera's inhaler, the size of a quart of milk, was cumbersome. The treatment generated $4 million in sales in last year's second quarter.
``Inhaled insulin was a difficult idea from the get-go, given the emergence of other therapeutic options,'' said Andrew Baum, a London-based analyst with Morgan Stanley, in a telephone interview.
Patients aren't clamoring for an inhaled product because needle sizes for administering insulin have become smaller, making injections less painful, analysts said.
Even so, Mannkind, of Valencia, California, has said it will seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval by year's end to sell its inhaler. Indianapolis-based Lilly plans to ask for clearance next year.
Lilly needs new products to help offset losses from generic competition to the top-selling antipsychotic Zyprexa, which loses patent protection in 2011. Patents for its antidepressant, Cymbalta, and osteoporosis treatment Evista expire in 2014. The three products generated $6.8 billion in 2006, or 43 percent of revenue.
The company hasn't had a new drug cleared by the U.S. since 2005.
More at Bloomberg
Lilly and Mannkind officials said in interviews that diabetics will embrace their needle-free alternative even though they didn't like Exubera. Doctors and patients complained that Exubera's inhaler, the size of a quart of milk, was cumbersome. The treatment generated $4 million in sales in last year's second quarter.
``Inhaled insulin was a difficult idea from the get-go, given the emergence of other therapeutic options,'' said Andrew Baum, a London-based analyst with Morgan Stanley, in a telephone interview.
Patients aren't clamoring for an inhaled product because needle sizes for administering insulin have become smaller, making injections less painful, analysts said.
Even so, Mannkind, of Valencia, California, has said it will seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval by year's end to sell its inhaler. Indianapolis-based Lilly plans to ask for clearance next year.
Lilly needs new products to help offset losses from generic competition to the top-selling antipsychotic Zyprexa, which loses patent protection in 2011. Patents for its antidepressant, Cymbalta, and osteoporosis treatment Evista expire in 2014. The three products generated $6.8 billion in 2006, or 43 percent of revenue.
The company hasn't had a new drug cleared by the U.S. since 2005.
More at Bloomberg
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