December 2, 2001
Insulin Analogs
Question from New Jersey, USA:
My 15 year old son has been asking me if he can go on Lantus insulin, but I feel this insulin is too new and should be studied more before letting him inject it into his body. I did speak to his endocrinologist who he told me he only has started a few patients, but he would let my son go on it if he my son wanted to. How long was Lantus studied before it was given to patients? Do you see any side effects in patients? Do you have many patients on Lantus?
Answer:
Probably the most important thing I can tell you is that Lantus (insulin glargine) was used for over a year in Europe before it was distributed in the US because overwhelming use in Europe resulted a supply problem so that the company didn’t want to release it and not have it available. Many thousands have safely used Lantus.
I now have more than 50 children on it. I have found it to be very helpful in smoothing out the problems with predicting insulin action. It must be used with mealtime rapid acting insulin (either Humalog or Novolog).
LD
