When we heard about a drug that is changing
the lives of people with diabetes,
we knew we had to look into it.
It's called afrezza.
It's the only drug of its kind,
and it's been on the market
for more than seven years.
But patients and doctors alike tell us it
just doesn't have the name recognition.
So why should you care?
The CDC says 11% of the US
population has diabetes,
about one in every 10 people,
and it has a big impact
on communities of color,
especially indigenous black
and Hispanic Americans.
ABC's Becca Habegger has the story.
I was diagnosed in 1983.
I was 13 years old with that puts me at
38 years living with type one diabetes.
Anthony Hightower, his partner,
Letty, Santana. I was diagnosed in
1999 and the friend Matt Macedo. I
came late to the party.
I got diagnosed at 25.
All have type one diabetes.
It could be a very lonely disease
if you don't have that support.
They're part of a Sacramento
based group called. Fire bites,
which Anthony started years ago as
a team name for a cycling event.
And now you know, we have
this community of diabetics
here locally in Sacramento.
And so we've hosted roller
skating parties, baseball games.
They tell other diabetics about a
medicine that has changed their lives.
But to understand how it works,
it's important to know this diabetes
is a condition where your pancreas
doesn't produce enough insulin.
Dr Adeela Ansari of Mercy Medical
Group explains we all need insulin
to turn blood sugar or glucose
into energy that fuels our bodies.
It is important for your blood.
Sugar to be at certain range
and if patients have diabetes,
it results in much higher level of
blood sugar which leads to long run,
more complication affecting your eyes,
your kidneys, nerves and high risk
of strokes and heart disease. There
are several types of diabetes and we won't
get into the specific differences here,
but generally type one patients have to
put insulin into their body every day
and some type 2 patients do as well.
The most common way by far is through
liquid insulin that can be taken
by injection or by using a pump.
Which involves an insulin dispenser connected
to a small tube placed just under the skin.
People who use insulin to control
their blood sugar levels take
extra around a meal or snack.
That's because the food will raise
their blood sugar level and they
need the insulin to help lower
it back to a safe range.
But as Anthony explains,
figuring out the timing and
the dosage is complicated.
An injection for me takes about 45
minutes to an hour to start working,
which is very difficult if
you're going out to eat.
You don't know what you're going to pick,
but you still have to guess
and count your carbs and.
Figure out what you're going
to have to take your insulin
based on those calculations,
and then 45 minutes to an hour later.
If your food's not ready,
you could be in trouble.
So now what?
A lot of people are doing is
they're just taking their
injections once their food is there,
or right when they order it,
but at that point now you're dealing
with these high blood sugars
because you've already eaten,
but you've only taken your your
insulin just before you've eaten.
So now your blood sugars are sky
high for 45 minutes to an hour or so
before your instance starts to kick in,
and then the traditional
insulins continue to work.
From three to five hours.
So now your food is out of your body.
Your insulin still working and
you're dropping below that low level.
So now you're feeling these
postmeal hypoglycemic reactions.
Hypoglycemic reactions are when
your blood sugar drops below a
certain levels and gives you this
feeling of like you're about to die.
But Matt, Anthony and Letty,
all of whom used liquid insulin for years,
say that's not a problem for them anymore.
They now use an insulin
delivery method that's inhaled.
It's the only one on the market,
and it's been available for about 7 years.
It's called afrezza.
Having the liquid insulin was
always a struggle and then getting
the medication just right.
Going from that to Afrezza has
just been absolutely life changing.
It's been so freeing I would say
it's absolutely life changing.
It's changed my life as far
as my diabetes is concerned.
Instead of having to calculate the exact
amount of liquid insulin to take based on
a guess of the amount of carbs in a meal,
a frezza comes in just three different doses.
We don't even count carbs.
I don't don't count carbs anymore.
I just see a meal and see small,
medium, large and dose accordingly.
That kind of just gives you a range
as long as you're within this range,
you're fine. But Afrezza
is a whole new way
of thinking about insulin.
The biggest benefit, they say,
is how quickly a frezza gets to work
and then gets out of their system.
You have a noticeable effect
between 10 and 12 minutes.
We can see it because we.
All were a thing called the continuous
glucose monitor and that goes in
every five minute increments.
So after about 3 dots or 15
minutes after you've inhaled,
you'll see a noticeable effect
where if you're starting to trend
up it starts to level out and
then starts to go back down to
the level that you want it to be.
Liquid insulin is 4 hours out of your
system. Afrezza is out in 90 minutes.
The beauty of Frezza is
the speed in and speed out.
It's not necessarily.
That's an inhaled to me.
That's a bonus. Now I actually take
it when my meal is delivered to me.
So while my food is now
digesting and out of my system.
My blood sugar starting to level
out because Afrezza is leveling out.
I definitely can tell you it's a game changer
for patients. Doctor Ansari says
Afrezza is faster acting because
of how the inhaled insulin is
absorbed into the bloodstream
through the lungs. The majority
of the injectable insulin are
delivered through capillary system,
which takes longer time to really
peak and stay longer in their system.
But when you look at the frezza,
it really delivers the incident directly
into the arterial blood system,
so it goes quickly into taking effect
very fast as opposed to the injectable
you're dipping dots.
Scream so like those freeze little pellets,
we freeze dry Afrezza nitrogen
and in monomeric forms so as
soon as you inhale in your lungs
it releases the technology into
your blood so there's no waste.
There's no time waiting for the
travel through your tissue.
Michael Castagna is CEO of Mankind,
the company that makes Afrezza.
He says there are about 3000 doctors
throughout the US who prescribe
Afrezza and about 10,000 patients
taking it a fraction of 1% of the
people who could potentially benefit
about four million 5,000,000 people
who live with diabetes on insulin.
Every day for their meal time control.
So I asked him
this has been on the market
for some seven years.
People who use it call it life changing.
Why isn't it more widely used
and known about? I would say
22 main things I've worked
on this for five years
now, so so it's it's
first was the company didn't
have a lot of money, so therefore
we couldn't raise awareness.
This is no large company,
although mankind has several drugs
in the pipeline, Afrezza was its
first on the market with a second
one launching this summer.
I'd say the number one thing is the
majority of people do not know what
exists and then the second one is doctors.
Because they were trained
on injectable insulin,
they know injected one saline.
We didn't train the US doctors
on inhaled insulin.
Doctors just don't believe it.
Sometimes it's very frustrating.
I tell them to get your
own clinical experience.
Why wait?
Well, version of Afrezza for
kids is still in trials.
Meanwhile the drug is not cheap,
but the company says there's
financial assistance available for
some patients and they encourage
anyone with questions to reach out.
We have more information at abc10.com.