With hundreds of millions of diabetes patients around the globe, the market for insulin delivery is vast and,
according to the National Institutes of Health and others, ever-expanding.
Couple that with healthcare reforms in the developing world that are bringing
treatment to underserved populations, and it's no surprise that biotechs and
drug delivery firms are turning their eyes to insulin as a possible cash cow.
For the most part, the insulin treatments themselves are similar, working on variations of the same API. So how, then, can companies get a leg up in the burgeoning insulin market? By rethinking delivery and out-innovating their competitors, it would seem, and the race to provide high-quality therapies for diabetics has brought the best out of some sharp minds in the drug delivery sphere. Some companies are pairing pumps and monitors to boost efficacy, while others look to transdermal techs to deliver insulin without so much as scraping the skin. There's even an inhalable formulation under development, and then, of course, the investigational artificial pancreas.
With so many innovative pipeline platforms for diabetes treatment announced over the past few years, we at FierceDrugDelivery figured we'd spotlight five of the most intriguing.\