Far more common is Type II diabetes, or the adult onset form. In these cases, the body's supply of insulin can't keep blood-sugar levels in check. Many patients can control their illness in the early stages with changes in diet, and then they take diabetes pills. In time, those measures aren't enough for many Type II diabetics, and they need insulin. For doctors, this is where the battle can begin.
Many patients fear injections.
Others have seen relatives with diabetes become more ill or require amputations after beginning insulin shots and blame the therapy for their relatives' already worsened condition. It will help them get over that paradigm of thinking of insulin as a last resort. For Brothers, the Dallas businessman, the inhaled-insulin studies came at just the right time. Diagnosed with Type II diabetes 10 years ago, he used pills such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Glucophage to control his disease. He signed up for the Pfizer-sponsored trials just as it was determined that he needed insulin.