Fewer Hypoglycemic Episodes With One Insulin in Head-to-Head Comparison

A recently completed study that compared two types of insulin for treating inadequately controlled type 2 patients showed that insulin degludec/insulin aspart produced fewer instances of hypoglycemia than biphasic insulin aspart 30.

However, both types of insulin were equally effective at controlling A1c’s.

The international study, conducted by researchers from Australia, Denmark, Finland, India, and Poland, conducted a 26-week trial on type 2 patients whose mean age was 58.7 years and who had had diabetes an average of 13 years. The patients’ median BMI was 29.3, and median A1c was 8.4%.

The patients, divided into two groups, received twice-daily injections of either insulin degludec/insulin aspart or biphasic insulin aspart 30. The injections were given at breakfast and at the main evening meal.

Although some of the patients in the study were already taking once or twice-daily injections of insulin, or were taking oral diabetes medications, the medications were failing to help them achieve adequate control over their blood sugars. 

Manufactured by Novo Nordisk, insulin degludec/insulin aspart combines an ultra-long-lasting basal insulin with a rapid-acting insulin in a single injection. The drug was first approved in 2012 and is not for sale in the United States.

Novo Nordisk also manufactures biphasic insulin aspart 30, which it introduced in 2005. Like insulin degludec/insulin aspart, it is designed to perform as a long-lasting insulin that delivers good glycemic control while lowering the risk of hypoglycemic episodes.

By the end of the study, both patient groups had achieved mean A1c’s of 7.1%. Insulin degludec/insulin aspart users required smaller doses of their drug than the biphasic insulin aspart 30 users.  

An abstract of the study is available at http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2014/05/09/dc13-2908?papetoc