A study published online in the journal Diabetes Care on December 17, 2015 demonstrated non-inferiority of intranasal glucagon to intramuscular glucagon for the treatment of insulin-induced hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes patients. The study found that intranasal glucagon successfully raised plasma glucose to the target level within 30 minutes after dosing in 98.7% of cases vs. 100% for intramuscular glucagon.
Eli Lilly acquired the intranasal dry powder glucagon from Locemia in October 2015.
The study involved 75 patients at 8 clinical centers in the US. Although the intranasal glucagon took slightly longer to raise the plasma levels, a mean time of 16 minutes vs. 13 minutes for intramuscular administration, the nasal powder requires no preparation time, whereas the intramuscular formulation requires reconstitution with water prior to injection.
Read the Diabetes Care abstract.
