Mannkind Corp. said Monday that a study has found that its inhaled insulin therapy product was safe and effective in treating patients with type 2 diabetes.

The experimental treatment, tentatively named Technosphere Insulin, was found to be as effective in controlling blood sugar as an injected insulin therapy, the Valencia-based biotech company said.

The company last week announced it had completed enrollment for the drug’s pivotal safety trial, with completion of the trial likey by the end of 2008. Analysts are expecting the MannKind to submit the drug for FDA approval in early 2009.

While noting the drug already has competitors, analyst Elliot Wilbur at CIBC World Markets Corp. noted “to date, TI remains a potentially best in class-play among the inhaled insulins.”

Mannkind’s product, used by those with type-2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 to 95 percent of diabetes world wide according to the International Diabetes Foundation, will compete directly with Pfizer Inc.’s Exubera, which was approved this summer and was the first inhaled insulin therapy to hit the market.

Shares of Mannkind rose 18 cents to $19.46 in early trading on the Nasdaq.