People suffering from diabetes will not be able to swap their insulin injections for an inhaled vers...
People suffering from diabetes will not be able to swap their insulin injections for an inhaled version after the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) rejected the treatment.
Final guidance from NICE on the use of inhaled insulin, also known as Exubera, stipulated that it should not be recommended for the routine treatment of people with diabetes.
However, it may be used as a treatment option for people demonstrating poor blood-glucose control who are unable to inject insulin due to an injection phobia, or have a severe and persistent problem with injection sites.
The institute also suggested that if there is an improvement in haemoglobin (HbA1C) judged significant enough to reduce risk of complications after six months, then the patient should be allowed to continue to use Exubera.
It recommended, however, that if there is not a sufficient amount of improvement then the use of Exubera should be discontinued.
Commenting on the guidance, Simon O'Neill, director of care at Diabetes UK, said: "Diabetes UK welcomes the revised final guidance and it is a significant step forward from the initial recommendations following the consultation process."
He added: "We still believe that the potential benefits in reducing the risk of complication, for those who delay moving on to insulin to avoid injections, have not been adequately recognised. The decision to prescribe Exubera should lie with the individual patient and their diabetes specialist."
Earlier this year, Diabetes UK called for NICE to extend its draft guidance on the use of inhaled insulin to all diabetics who would like less invasive treatment.
