Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis announced recently that the FDA has accepted for filing a new drug application for Exubera (inhaled human insulin powder). This announcement is a huge step forward for the estimated 180 million people worldwide that suffer from diabetes. Anyone who has had to suffer through daily injections of insulin will tell you that an alternate method of delivery is long over due.

Eli Lilly, the U.S. market leader in insulin sales, also is developing an inhaled form of insulin, but so far Lilly is nowhere near filling with the FDA. Being first to file with the FDA could give Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis a distinct advantage when it comes to capturing and retaining market sales.

Surprisingly share prices for Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis remained basically unchanged after the announcement. It appears investors are still very wary of pharmaceutical stocks with all the negative publicity the industry has been receiving lately.