Inhaled insulin: gone with the wind?

Excerpt

Yesterday it was going to sweep the world; today it is gone. Exubera is no more: there was no money in it. As for the patients who volunteered to test the new therapy, and those to whom it has offered a new lease of life: tough luck. Pfizer took a look at the bottom line and decided to quit. Their statement on 18 October 2007 [1], announcing the withdrawal of Exubera, contained no apologies, expressed no regrets, and offered no special provision for the patients who have come to depend on this heavily promoted therapy. ‘Despite best efforts,’ it said, ‘Exubera has failed to gain the acceptance of patients and physicians.’ We didn’t totally misjudge the market, the statement implied, the market let us down. So, what have the rest of us lost, what have we learned, and where do we go from here? …