June 3, 2001
Insulin
Question from Houston, Texas, USA:
My 59 year old husband, who has had type 1 diabetes for 46 years, has adverse reactions (aggression, confusion, memory loss — at all times, not just during hypoglycemic episodes) to the Lilly Insulin products he has tried, but not to the Novo-Nordisk products. Could you please tell me what the difference is in how these two products are made, so we might determine the cause of these adverse reactions? If you can’t, can you please guide me as to where to go for this information?
Answer:
The action profiles of these insulins should be very similar. I would have to review the blood sugars to determine why your husband might be getting large differences with similar types of insulin from different manufacturers.
The insulins should have the same amino acid structure. Note that there is currently not a similar product at Novo for Lilly’s lispro insulin, although there will be soon. As far as resources, I would direct you to the manufacturers themselves. I am not aware of literature that suggests equivalent products should behave so differently.
JTL
