Suchen

Zurück

30 years of synthetic insulin - are people with diabetes getting the best deal?

The report of patients’ concerns by the Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust can be downloaded here.

Foreword
Genetically engineered so-called ‘human’ insulin was introduced in 1982.1 Following persistent and aggressive
marketing by the pharmaceutical industry, plus their unsubstantiated claims of superiority of ‘human’ insulin, by
the mid to late 1980s 84% of people with insulin requiring diabetes in the UK had been transferred from natural
pork or beef insulin to ‘human’ insulin. The vast majority of these patients were not given any choice and many were
not even informed that their insulin was being changed. There were immediate reports of adverse reactions to the
new insulin with the most common being hypoglycaemia without warning symptoms, a dangerous and frightening
condition. Other serious adverse reactions were also reported by both people with diabetes and their families.
With a change of treatment in such a vast number of people, there could be no other group better able to judge the
differences between the animal insulin they had been using and the new synthetic ‘human’ insulin. However, their
reports were largely ignored by everyone, including the regulatory authorities, insulin manufacturers and diabetes
associations across the world.
It was left to patients, their families and a small number of physicians to raise awareness of the serious adverse
effects that ‘human’ insulin was having on some people and above all, they lobbied to try to ensure that natural
animal insulins remained available as a treatment option, especially for those people unable to tolerate synthetic
‘human’ insulin.
By the end of 2007, the three major multi-national insulin manufacturers will have discontinued the supply of
all their pork and beef insulins and they have even started to discontinue some of the original ‘human’ insulins,
which are no longer in patent.
People with diabetes now face a different situation, the next generation of synthetic insulins - insulin analogues.
These are not proven to be superior to ‘human’ or to animal insulins in terms of metabolic control, nor has their
long-term safety been established, but more importantly, they have the potential for carcinogenic effects.
The Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust was formed in direct response to the needs of people who experienced
adverse reactions to ‘human’ insulin and now over 10 years later, it is witnessing history repeating itself with the
marketing of insulin analogues.
This Report brings all the issues together in one concise and explicit document in order to draw the attention of
everyone with an interest in the welfare of people with diabetes. The aim is not to recount history but look forward
to developing ways of protecting the best interests of people with diabetes who need and deserve treatment that is
based on evidence of benefit while at the same time, being cost effective.

Philip Corfman, former Director, Center for Population Research, National Institutes of Health, and Reviewing
Medical Officer, Food and Drug Administration, USA

Download:
IDDT-report: 30 years of synthetic insulin - english Größe: 917 kb, Typ: .pdf.

Zurück