but I don't recall seeing it before.(This is only an excerpt of the article.)

New drug delivery formulations via the lungs are worth holding your breath for

Non-conventional therapeutic uses

Proteins and peptides

Exubera, Pfizer’s inhalable insulin, was promised to initiate a new generation of dry powder delivery technology. However, the project was abandoned, losing more than $1bn due to the inconvenience of the size of the device and concerns about the effect on lung function. In the continuing quest to deliver biopharmaceuticals to the lung, Mannkind Corporation has advanced a novel technology using a new excipient (fumaryl diketopiperazine) to form Technosphere particles that provide protection to the peptide to be delivered.2

The dry powder formulation can be prepared from a wide range of drugs. The technology is based on a novel and inert small molecule excipient that forms particles appropriately sized for inhalation into the deep lung without the traditional requirement for subsequent processing (such as milling, blending, sizing, etc).

Technosphere powders are monodisperse (characterised by particles of uniform size in a dispersed phase) and low density, with fixed particle morphology and size controlled by either crystallisation or spray drying. The particles have a mean geometric diameter of about 2µm, with a narrow particle size distribution and a rapid dissolution profile. The particle engineering capability allows the preparation of small particles designed for delivery to the deep lung or larger particles for deposition in the upper airways.3

This technology has been used during the development of Technosphere Insulin (Afrezza), a pioneering and patient-friendly orally inhaled insulin, to establish a system with the potential to change the paradigm for inhaled drug delivery. Afrezza provides rapid insulin absorption and clinical studies show that it offers glycaemic control comparable to that with current injected insulin, with less weight gain, reduced risk of hypoglycaemia and reduced increase in glucose concentration after meals.
Afrezza appears to overcome several limitations of Exubera.

Technosphere insulin is rapidly absorbed and eliminated, and its pharmacokinetic profile mimics normal physiological insulin release more closely than injection of regular insulin, as well as of rapid-acting insulin.4 Application of this technology to several other peptide and small-molecule drugs is proposed, with the potential to deliver similar advantages.
Studies are also investigating the delivery of a peptide, PPY3-36, which is responsible for appetite suppression. The peptide is currently being delivered using a dextran excipient and successful appetite suppression has been demonstrated in an in vivo model in mice.5

http://www.pjonline.com/news/new_drug_delivery_formulations_via_the_lungs_are_worth_holding_your_breath_for