Drug companies including Sanofi, Merck and Pfizer are working on anticancer drugs that block insulin-like growth factor, a related molecule.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Children who are lacking in insulin-like growth factor one, or IGF-1, can have short stature--making them smaller than 97.5% of normal children.

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Amgen has moved two other cancer drugs in final stage trials, including an antibody to insulin-like growth factor 1 that is being tested in pancreatic cancer.

FORBES: Amgen Exec: "Clearly Superior" Prostate Cancer Drug Will Be Huge

Injections that treat diabetes, including insulin and drugs like Victoza from Novo-Nordisk and Byetta from Amylin and Eli Lilly, have had better luck.

FORBES: Another Blow For Diabetes Pills

Monday night, a panel convened by the FDA to weigh the data on the controversial diabetes pill agreed by a 20-3 vote that Avandia does increase the risk of heart attacks, particularly for certain high-risk patients like those who are sick enough to need insulin.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The most eager customers for the inhalers will likely be the 1 million juvenile-onset (type I) diabetics like Nikki Marquez, who don't produce insulin at all.

FORBES: Waiting to Inhale

Meanwhile, as Pfizer had to conduct long safety studies to deal with the lung capacity issue, insulin shots got less painful as companies like Becton, Dickinson developed less painful needles and drug firms started to market insulin in easy-to-use pre-packaged "pen" devices.

FORBES: Pfizer Kills Exubera