The Guardian reports what could be a press release from a Pharmaceutical company:

Hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes may soon benefit from inhalers that could dramatically cut the number of injections needed to control the disease.
Researchers believe the first insulin inhaler will be licensed for general use in Europe within the year.

The article goes on to reveal:

Trials suggest that for those with type 2 diabetes already on tablets, inhaled insulin gives better blood glucose control than further doses of tablets. For those with type 1 disease, four years of inhaled insulin treatment plus a daily injection have proved effective without serious side-effects.

Insulin inhalers will be of great benefit to those with diabetes once the technology has been developed. One of the problems with this article is it fails to address a fundamental and well known question that should be asked when reporting about insulin inhalers. Specifically, does this inhaler satisfactorily control dosage?
This form of drug delivery is notorious for subject dependent differences and changes through time in the quantity of insulin that is actually absorbed by the body. The reported improvement in treatment of type 2 diabetes does not establish equivalence to injections but simply says it was better than doing nothing. If someone with type 2 diabetes needs insulin will an inhaler be adequate to reduce the likelihood of complications?
The article does suggest that daily usage of inhaled insulin did not have serious side-effects on the lungs, apparently addressing the second major question related to this technology. Absent is a statement of effectiveness related to the use of an inhaler by study participants with Type 1 diabetes. Hmmm …

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A NEW drug that stops tumours from growing would enable people with cancer to manage the disease like diabetes or asthma.
The medication, known as GSAO, has shown promising results in mice and will be tested in humans early next year.
“What this drug does is stop tumours from making blood vessels,” said Professor Philip Hogg of the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia, at the University of NSW.
“The hope with this sort of therapy is that you’ll turn cancer into a disease, say not unlike diabetes for example, where it’s a serious disease but it can be managed pretty well on a lifelong basis,” Prof Hogg said.
more from the Telegraph

British scientsts at the University of Bristol and King’s College in London are developing a vaccine for infants they hope will prevent the onset of Type 1 diabetes.
The disease results from the destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called “islets