Can Oral GLP-1 Be More than Just Convenient?

Given the collapse of all the inhaled insulin collaborations, many observers are skeptical that the Novo/Emisphere collaboration to create an oral version of Novo's liraglutide GLP-1 -- the drug-delivery company's biggest deal ever -- will work out any better. GLP-1, however, doesn't have all the baggage of insulin therapy, so there is in fact better logic for an oral pill's success. Still, if the program creates merely an oral version of once-a-day liraglutide, with no clinical advantages over its GLP-1 competitors, it will die just as certainly as did inhaled insulin.