The FDA advisory panel endorses inhaled insulin. The FDA usually follows the recommendations of its advisory committees, but is not required to:

Millions of people with diabetes may have an alternative to some or all of their daily needles if the government adopts an advisory panel's recommendation to approve the first insulin that can be inhaled.

Federal health advisers on Thursday scrutinized the drug and inhaler device, questioning developers about the long-term effects of distributing insulin to the body through the lungs, rather than directly into the blood stream.

Proponents of the drug, Exubera, and the associated inhaler say many diabetics who refuse to take all their injections will be more inclined to use an inhaler.