Shares of MannKind Corp. jumped 13 percent Tuesday following comments by Chief Executive Alfred Mann, who highlighted the company’s progress in moving its experimental inhaled insulin system toward U.S. regulatory approval.

Mann said during a UBS health care industry conference in New York that the company’s meetings with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration so far had been positive, and his company expects to ask for approval by the end of the year.

MannKind said that Technosphere showed in a study released last week that it is capable of controlling in Type 1 childhood diabetics’ rapid spikes in blood sugar after a meal. The drug also is being studied on Type 2 patients, who can produce insulin but need help regulating blood sugar levels. Type 2 is generally associated with overweight adults.

The company announced recently that it plans to market Technosphere under the trade name Afresa.

MannKind’s stock has sunk over the past year after Pfizer Inc. discontinued its inhaled insulin, Exubera, due to slow sales and lung safety concerns; other companies dropped similar development programs. However, Mann has said the study did not find Technosphere reduced lung capacity. Shares also got a boost last week when Pfizer said it would start switching Exubera inhaled insulin patients to Technosphere.

MannKind shares closed up 53 cents to $4.61 in Nasdaq trading.