After decades of dead-end research and development, insulin that can be breathed into the lungs--just like the medicine inside an asthma inhaler--could soon be on the market. Two biotech companies, Alkermes (nasdaq: ALKS - news - people ) and Nektar Therapeutics (nasdaq: NKTR - news - people ), are each working in collaboration with big-pharmaceutical partners to bring this new drug and delivery method to market.
