Customised insulin treatments offer treatments that fit patients’ lifestyle disease management benefits

Geneva, Switzerland, May 2001 -

Seventy-nine years after Insulin was first made available as a treatment for diabetes, 400 of the world’s leading experts in the clinical treatment of the disease spent today discussing what impact bioengineered "designer’ insulins may have on the treatment of the more than 150 mIllion people who live with this condition, many of whom depend on daily insulin therapy.

"These developrnents mean that Clinicians now have a range of insulins so that treatment can be tailored to the lifestyles of individuals with diabetes. Using these tools we can achieve the goals helping patients feel better and avoiding the distressing long-term complications of diabetes," said Dr Malcolm Nattrass, Director of Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University Hospital Birmingham UK, to the diabetes experts attending the two-day Diabetes Di@logue

Diabetes Di@logue Is Sponsored by Novo Nordisk, and is believed to be the first global interactive conference called to chart the course toward a cure for diabetes.

"The last three decades have seen immense strides taken by the insulin chemists in moving from animal insulins through chemically cleaner preparations to human insulin and now Insulin analogues. Insulin aspart was the first example of a protein designed for improved absorption characteristics over the natural insulin hormone. Dual-release Insulin aspart is the next step in this process designed to provide a close physiological match of both the prandial and basal insulin requirements," said Dr Nattrass.

Human insulin (referred to as short acting, regular insulin) usually reaches the blood stream within 30 minutes after injection, reaches peak levers anywhere from two-three hours after injection, and lasts approximately three to six hours. An injection should be followed by a meal or snack containing carbohydrates within 30 minutes But rapid-acting analogue insulins are a modified form of human insulin, designed to make their way from the injection site into the bloodstream far faster than human insulin, and to act for a shorter period of time. Among the benefits offered by these analogue insulins are the fact that:

• Rapid-acting insulin can be injected immediately before or soon after a meal and is shown to better mimic the normal state of insulin release after meals;

• Rapid-acting Insulin begins to work within five minutes of an injection, peaks in about one hour, and continues to work for three to five hours. This shorter duration of action results in insulin levels being close to baseline values before the next meal, which in turn results in a reduced incidence of hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, episodes;

• The availability of the new ‘designer" insulins, such as dual-release insulin aspart, allows healthcare professionals to "design" customised treatment plans for patients, as every individual who suffers from diabetes has unique health and lifestyle needs.

Dr. Nattrass highlighted the increasing use of insulin therapy in combination with oral anti diabetic agents for those Type 2 patients still capable of producing some Insulin. This represents an alternative approach to traditional practice, in which many physicians and patients try to avoid insulin therapy as long as possible because of its perception as therapy of last resort.

"The advantages that a dual release analogue insulin offers us is that we can now design therapies to fit the patient and their lifestyle instead of forcing the patient to adjust to the therapy," said Dr Nattrass.

Patients healthcare professionals, media and anyone interested in Diabetes Di@logue findings can log onto wwwnovonconferencecorn.

About Diabetes

Diabetes is a condition affecting 150 million men, women, and children world-wide, in which the body does not sufficiently make or respond to insulin a hormone that promotes the transport of glucose from the bloodstream into the body’s cells, among other functions As a result, individual with diabetes suffer from excessively high levels of blood glucose, which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, neurological disorders, and circulatory disorders that require limb amputation.

Type 1 diabetes, which accounts for 5-10 percent of all diabetes cases and is usually diagnosed during childhood, results from a lack of insulin production from the pancreas, and is treated with insulin therapy.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or has built a resistance to the action of Insulin. Accounting for 90-95 percent of all diabetes cases, this type is usually diagnosed in adulthood, although an increasing number of children are developing Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is currently treated through diet, exercise and weight loss; oral drugs that boost pancreatic insulin production or insulin sensitivity; and/or insulin therapy.