New insulin therapy to help manage diabetes

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in South Africa, with over 12.8% of adults diagnosed with the disease, according to the International Diabetes Federation. 

Treatment of Type 2 diabetes includes diet and increased physical activity aimed at helping patients to lose weight and lower blood glucose levels. If diet, exercise and weight loss are not enough to maintain targeted blood sugar levels, oral or injectable medications can be used to assist in improving insulin production or insulin function.

Insulin therapy is recognised as an important treatment for diabetes but commencement of therapy is often delayed owing to concerns such as increased hypoglycaemia risk, weight gain and treatment complexity. Delaying insulin treatment, however, can potentially lead to irreversible complications.

Global healthcare company, Novo Nordisk, has recently launched its new insulin therapy product in South Africa. The new, injectable insulin therapy is a fixed ratio combination of a basal insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in a single formulation.

According to specialist physician Dr Adri Kok, a unique characteristic of the basal insulin and GLP-1RA combination is that fixed-ratio co-formulations are available. Dr Kok explains: “These are dosed once-daily and therefore allow treatment intensification without additional daily injections. This is important because a greater number of daily injections is associated with decreased adherence, poorer quality of life and clinical inertia.” 
 
The new therapy offers greater convenience to patients in that it only needs to be taken once a day and can be taken independently of meals. The fixed combination is said to offer a number of benefits to people with type 2 diabetes, such as a reduced rate of hypoglycaemic episodes, fewer injections, a lower total daily insulin dose and even weight loss.