Cipla has launched Afrezza® in India, making the country the first market to offer this rapid‑acting, inhaled human insulin as a commercial treatment option for adults living with diabetes mellitus.
The launch follows regulatory approval from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for the exclusive distribution and marketing of Afrezza® (insulin human) Inhalation Powder, a non‑injectable insulin delivered through an inhaler that dissolves rapidly in the lungs and enters the bloodstream to improve glycaemic control.
Afrezza® is designed to begin working in as little as 12 minutes and its effects last approximately two to three hours, a profile that closely resembles the body’s natural insulin response to a meal. The product, manufactured by MannKind Corporation in the United States, represents the first and only non‑injectable, rapid‑acting insulin available for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the Indian market.
Cipla will utilise its extensive distribution network to make Afrezza® available across India, aiming to provide adults who require insulin therapy with an alternative to injections that may reduce treatment complexity and improve patient experience. The company has positioned the inhaled insulin as a patient‑centric treatment that could address barriers associated with multiple daily injections.
Afrezza® has been evaluated in more than 70 clinical studies involving over 3,000 patients globally, including phase 3 clinical trials in India that demonstrated reductions in HbA1c levels when Afrezza® was added to oral anti‑diabetes medications.
The product has been approved and prescribed in the United States for more than a decade and is now being introduced to Indian patients through Cipla’s commercial rollout.
The launch of Afrezza® adds to Cipla’s portfolio of innovative therapies and positions the company to leverage inhalation‑based drug delivery beyond its existing respiratory treatments, extending into diabetes care with a needle‑free option.
