Billionaire Entrepreneur Dreams of Inhaled Insulin

The monumental failure of Pfizer's Exubera hasn't changed the mind of an ornery, 82-year-old billionaire named Al Mann, who is staking much of his personal fortune on another try at making inhaled insulin a reality.

Loyal Health Blog readers will recall that Alfred E. Mann's Advanced Bionics recently took a big payout to end a troubled tie-up with Boston Scientific. That's just one in a string of companies the guy has started over the past several decades. (See "Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur," an interview by Health Affairs.)

The inhaled insulin's the work of the humbly named MannKind Corp. So far, Mann (pictured) has invested $566 million in MannKind and agreed to lend it an additional $350 million, this morning's NYT reports. (Forbes puts his net worth at $2.2 billion.)

MannKind has spent some $700 million on its inhalable insulin, called Technosphere, according to the NYT. The device used to deliver the insulin is about the size of a modern cell phone, rather smaller than the Exubera device, which was criticized roundly as being bulky. Boosters of the product also say it works faster and doesn't linger as long as other forms of insulin, which could be beneficial.