A new study done by scientists from Yale University’s Yale School of Medicine reports that people who suffer from Type 2 diabetes did not see a really significant change when they used the current new generation insulin analog drugs than those who used human insulin for treating Type 2 diabetes. The study was published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Kasia J. Lipska, assistant professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study said, “We compared the newer and older types of insulin in a large and diverse population of Kaiser Permanente type 2 diabetes patients who were newly prescribed insulin. The study was conducted under real-world conditions with uniquely detailed data about possible confounding factors and long-term outcomes. We found that for patients with type 2 diabetes in usual practice, the use of the more expensive insulin analogs did not appear to result in better safety — at least as defined by hospital or emergency visits for hypoglycemia — or better blood sugar control compared with NPH insulin.”
Approximately 29 million Americans with diabetes, the drug metformin- which helps in lowering blood sugar levels and making better lifestyle changes, but about 25% of patients still require supplementary insulin injections to regulate their blood sugar. Andrew J. Karter, senior research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research said, “For decades, people initiating insulin treatment were prescribed human insulin. Then in the 2000s, a new generation of long-acting insulin analogs emerged that were designed to mimic human insulin.” Insulin analog drugs can be taken daily or twice in a day to lower blood sugar levels- just like human insulin. After several trials it was seen that compared to human insulin, the insulin analogs performed only a bit better to reduce the risk of low blood sugar during sleep- also known as nocturnal hypoglycemia.
The problem with using insulin analogs is that they are much much more expensive than the human NPH insulin. A standard insulin analog costs between $200 to $300 while on the other hand you can get a vial of NPH insulin for just $25. Between 2002 and 2013, the cost of the insulin analogs tripled and that does not bode well for low income patients who rely on basic healthcare. Such costly medicines not only limits treatment for diabetes patients but also raises a lot of moral concerns. “The cost differential between analog and NPH insulins is huge, up to a 10-fold difference,” Karter said. “Some people with type 2 diabetes may find the potential benefits of insulin analogs worth the additional cost. But we found no population-level evidence to suggest that the extra expenditure is warranted for most people with type 2 diabetes, particularly when the high cost could prevent some of them from getting the treatment they need or divert resources away from other, potentially beneficial clinical interventions.”