Technosphere® Insulin System

MannKind’s investigational inhaled insulin product is based on its proprietary Insulin Technosphere® formulation and MedTone inhaler. This lead product is currently in phase III trials in the U.S., Europe and Latin America to study its safety and efficacy.

Background: Meeting a Medical Need

The first patient to receive a dose of insulin was a 14-year-old boy in January 1922. His blood glucose fell slightly, but because of the impurities in the extract, he developed an abscess at the site of one of his injections.

Since then, a wide range of purer forms of insulin as well as insulin analogs with various time-action profiles have been produced, approved and administered. Advances in the 1960s and 1970s led to the production of highly purified insulin and in the 1980s, recombinant DNA technology was used to produce human insulin. In fact, insulin was the first drug ever produced by recombinant technology.

In the late 1990s, interest in the administration of insulin via the pulmonary route surfaced. Since that time, several approaches have evolved, one of which has been approved for use in humans. Others are in various stages of clinical development.

Our Technosphere® Insulin System, currently in late stage clinical trials around the world, represents a novel drug delivery system that facilitates the rapid delivery of active ingredients to the bloodstream via the pulmonary route.