Smoking and Inhaled Insulin

(For more on smoking and your health, check out some of the other Science & Health blogs to the right, many of whom are addressing the topic of smoking today.)

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery published an analysis of Exubera, the inhaled human insulin developed by Pfizer which was approved by the FDA in January. It is mostly written in medicalese that will make your head explode after a few paragraphs, but buried inside is this little bit that should be of interest to diabetics who smoke but who are interested in the possibilities that inhaled insulin might hold for them.

• The use of inhaled insulin is contraindicated in patients who smoke or who have discontinued smoking less than 6 months prior to starting therapy, and is also contraindicated in patients with unstable or poorly controlled lung disease.

So there you go. Another good reason to stop with the smokey treats.

(via Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)