Going for the insulin pill

GlaxoSmithKline plc has placed its bet in the non-injected insulin field, teaming up to develop and market Nobex Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s polymer conjugate technology to covalently modify proteins for oral delivery.

GSK has been building a diabetes portfolio on top of its Avandia rosiglitazone, which is approved as a monotherapy and in combination with metformin to treat insulin resistance in Type II diabetics. Last year, GSK received an approvable letter for Avandia plus insulin to treat Type II diabetes, and the pharma company has two beta3 adrenergic agonists in Phase I testing for Type II diabetes: GW427353 and SB418790. ...