Diabetes drug developer MannKind Corp. of Valencia is exploring multiple partnership opportunities to take its inhalable insulin drug Afrezza to market as the company awaits FDA approval.

Chief Operating Officer Hakan Edstrom told analysts at the Goldman Sachs annual health care conference in Palos Verdes yesterday that the company is in negotiations with several potential partners, many of them already in the market with diabetes treatments.

Edstrom said the discussions included partnerships for North America only as well as global deals. The relationship could be structured in a number of ways, he said, including a royalty arrangement, profit sharing or a co-promotion deal. He said an announcement should be forthcoming in the next month and-a-half to two months – in the weeks after Afrezza gets the final word from the FDA by July 15.

MannKind shares rose 4 percent in mid-day trading on the Nasdaq to $10.13.