Intranasal glucagon research noses towards spray replacing the red ‘rescue’ needle

[Northerner]

A recent study has shown that a powdered form of glucagon that can be administered as a nasal spray can rescue a hypo as quickly as injected glucagon.

Glucagon is a hormone with the opposite action to insulin – it helps the body to increase blood glucose levels. This means people with type 1 diabetes know glucagon as the ‘rescue’ drug for severe hypos. But one of the problems with glucagon is that it isn’t stable in liquid form, so if you need to use it, you have to first reconstitute it so that it can be injected into a muscle.

As we reported in September from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Sweden, a US-based team developed a powdered form of glucagon that can be administered as a nasal spray. The powdered glucagon can then be absorbed quickly through the fine blood vessels in the nose, so it isn’t dependent on the person with type 1 actively inhaling the drug.

https://jdrf.org.uk/news/not-to-be-...owards-spray-replacing-the-red-rescue-needle/

 

[AlisonM]

As soon as I saw the headline, I thought "here we go again", but on reading the article, it actually looks promising. If as it seems, the remedy isn't dose specific but relies on getting 'some' into the blood stream, as opposed to a specific dose then it looks good. This is the difference that drives my main concern over inhalable insulin therapy, it is impossible to ensure a specific dose by that means.

 

[trophywench]

They are pretty fiddly to use, aren't they? A bit offputting as compared to pen jabs. Presumably you would just stick it up the nostril and 'puff' and the body does the rest?