Insulin Degludec Matches Insulin Glargine Efficacy

Both studies demonstrate that degludec could be a valuable addition to presently available insulins, particularly because of degludec’s benefit regarding hypoglycemia, which "is commonly the greatest barrier to achievement of normal glucose concentrations with insulin therapy," said Dr. Abd A. Tahrani, Dr. Clifford J. Bailey, and Dr. Anthony H. Barnett.

However, it is not yet known whether the steady glucose insulin concentrations achieved in these clinical trials will translate into clinical benefit. *"Indeed, the proportion of patients who had any symptoms of hypoglycemia was very high (greater than 80%) in both studies," they noted.

Dr. Tahrani is at the centre of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the University of Birmingham (England) Institute of Biomedical Research. Dr. Bailey is in the school of life and health sciences at Aston University, Birmingham. Dr. Barnett is at the diabetes centre at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. They reported ties to numerous industry sources, including Novo Nordisk. These remarks were taken from their editorial comment accompanying the two reports on insulin degludec (Lancet 2012;379:1465-7).

*CORRECTION 5/9/12: A previous version of this story misstated the proportion of patients who had any symptoms of hypoglycemia.