The reproducibility is identical to injections. When asked about lung irritation, Patton would not divulge the compound's ingredients but asserted that the powder was safe. The additivies are approved for the lungs. Inhale Therapeutic Systems, in partnership with Pfizer, will begin Phase III clinical trials on inhaled insulin this year. Amid the interest in new drug-delivery technology, a few pharmacists and pharmacologists have voiced concerns about efficacy and cost.
Hospital administrators are extremely fearful because the cost can be so high.
In the case of insulin, studies suggest that use of an insulin pump could cost 2.5 times as much as a treatment program that consisted only of multiple injections of insulin. And intrapulmonary insulin, because of its lower bioavailability, will almost certainly be more expensive than injected insulin. Even the new systems that rely on polymers or liposomes are expensive. Some researchers worry that not every invention in drug delivery confers a worthwhile clinical advantage. The new polymers, liposomes, patches, and aerosols may spark new outcomes research that considers the full cost of disease and weighs the advantages of needle-free medical therapy.