Many have been calling Exubera a bomb since it was introduced. Now the numbers back it up. I don’t know any primary care provider or endocrinologist who is prescribing this:
“Yesterday, Pfizer broke out Exubera sales for the first time, and now we know why it took this long: Exubera only sold $4 million in 2Q. This for a product that has been on the market for six quarters. We thought the number was missing a zero at first; we were at $63M for the quarter.”
Related posts:
- Exubera fallout: Breakup by press release
- Desperate Pfizer going with ads to save failing Exubera
- Exubera: "Another blow for the bong"
- Exubera: Stick a fork in it
- Why Exubera failed
- Pfizer blows Exubera away
- Exubera TV ads
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I go to the biggest diabetes center in my city and my endocrinologist told me they don’t have a single patient on it. I have a pump that will deliver doses by the 20th of a unit, why would I want an inhaler that will go in 3 unit increments? The whole thing is overly complicated (ie, one foil is 3 units, but 2 are 5?), big (it’s a frickin’ bong), expensive, and impractical. I couldn’t have predicted anything but total failure.
I think what people need to realize is that the needles aren’t the problem when it comes to treating diabetes, it’s the whole package.
Across a half dozen pharmacies and talking with well over a dozen pharmacists, I can say safely say that I have NEVER seen Exubera prescribed.
However, I actually know someone who is on Exubera and loves it. For her, I’d hate to see it discontinued.
I have a friend of a friend who I have never met, but aforementioned friend tells me she is on exubera. The only reason she uses it is lipoatrophy on her injection sites and she’s using it to take a break from her pump to let that subside.
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