Since 1994, the UK-based Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust (IDDT) has supported people with diabetes and their caretakers. It is a charitable organization operating entirely on volunteer donations. IDDT is not influenced financially from the drug industry, all their donations are Big Pharma-Free.

IDDT has a wealth of information for type 1 and type 2 diabetics. Of special note is IDDT's comprehensive explanation of the GM 'Human' Insulin vs. Animal Insulin debate. Allie has written several posts addressing the issue. Since switching from synthetic to pork insulin, her blood pressure has dropped, her blood sugar control is better and her appetite has lessened. She has also gained tremendous insights from IDDT along the way.

Back in 1994, IDDT collected a load of feedback from people with diabetes and their caregivers on their experience with synthetic 'human' insulin. The top three complaints were loss of warning of hypos or functioning on automatic pilot; extreme tiredness/lethargy; and weight gain of 21 pounds or more. Whether you have researched this debate deeply or are just scratching the surface, IDDT is a good resource. They also award research grants, and their Dream Trust supports young people with diabetes in developing countries.

It's a crime the US only offers genetically modified human insulin. Other countries sell animal insulin. People with diabetes should have a choice of insulins, adverse reactions to synthetics are real.

Novo Nordisk, one of the Big Three insulin manufacturers (Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis round out the group), has started legal action in the United States to block the launch of rival Sanofi-Aventis' new SoloSTAR injection pen. Novo claims Sanofi's SoloSTAR infringes on the patents of its NovoPen 4. Sanofi is ramping up for a U.S. launch in the next few months -- they contest Novo's claims and will defend their rights in court.

According to a March 2007 post in Scott Strumello's blog, the SoloSTAR is a disposable insulin pen aimed at the vast type 2 market, and Sanofi's Lantus will be the first insulin used in the new pen. SoloSTAR reduces the injection force by 30 percent or more compared to other leading disposable pens, good for people with poor grip or limited hand mobility. Different pen colors will be offered for different insulins, a nice feature to aid in correct insulin identification.

From my internet and blogosphere research, the SoloSTAR was introduced in Europe last April, and it was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

This isn't the first Novo/Sanofi patent scuffle. Novo has alleged Sanofi's OptiClik pen deliberately infringed patent protections on Novo's Flexpen (post image from www.novonordisk.com). The Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust's April newsletter stated the case should go to court sometime this year.

As Bev just pointed out, diabulimia is a serious condition when a type 1 diabetic is not taking their insulin in order to lose weight. Diabulimia is a term that has only cropped up in recent years. Most people who experience diabulemia are stuck between two fears: taking increasing doses of insulin, which leads to weight gain, and the damage the destructive behavior is causing their body in the long-term.

One expert who has studied the phenomenon estimates that 450,000 type 1 diabetic women in the United States - one-third of the total - have skipped or shortchanged their insulin to lose weight and are risking a coma and an early death. Ann Goebel-Fabbri, a clinical psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston says, "People who do this behavior wind up with severe diabetic complications much earlier". Is that supposed to be a warning or a promise? It sounds like she's saying complications are inevitable - but if you're contented with the weight gain - you'll deter the early arrival of complications. Poor advice, doc.

The caution of do as you're told and complications will arrive later is not a very promising guarantee. The behaviors of tight diabetes control are almost tantamount to cultivating eating disorders. Studies show that women with type 1 diabetes are twice as likely to develop an eating disorder. After all -- good diabetes management requires a preoccupation with food, counting carbohydrates and following a diet. Sounds like the ingredients for an eating disorder - throw in a hormonal imbalance (genetically modified insulin that arrives late to the brain, unlike natural vertebrate pork and cow insulin) and you've got yourself diabulemia. Thanks again, Big Pharma!! Where is the prize in good diabetes management if you are punished with weight gain?

A study published in 1991, comparing the efficacy of human synthetic insulin to porcine insulin states "there is no reason to treat all insulin-requiring diabetic subjects with human insulin except those who have developed insulin allergy".

In light of this study - how was rDNA synthetic human insulin able to monopolize the US market?

The absence of highly purified porcine insulin in the US is probably (my guess) because it's cheaper to manufacture. The saturation of the US market with rDNA synthetic human insulin seems to be treating the masses with a specialized need existing in only a few individuals. But the top line of this marketing campaign must have had a good effect on the bottom-line, too. Sales reps convinced doctors to switch their patients because it was going to become nearly impossible to continue getting animal derived insulin. The insurance companies (the guys picking up the tab) must've loved this option, too. Why wouldn't they? It's better - right?

I'm going to do a self-analysis of the stuff, based on my IAA, IA and C-peptide levels. I've been on human synthetic insulin since 1985. I've never been on highly purified porcine insulin. The IAA is my insulin autoantibodies -- the antibody attacking my islets. My IA is the insulin antibody attacking the injected insulin and my c-peptide will tell me how much insulin my body is making. After 12 weeks on the highly purified porcine insulin - I'm going to do my labs again. I'm curious to see if these levels move, at all. If my c-peptide levels rise, that's a GOOD indicator what's best for Allie Beatty.

So is the best choice for me the best choice for all? Probably not. But at least I can see for myself - even if it costs me a pretty penny to get my hands on highly purified porcine insulin. Nobody said being an experimentalist was cheap. However, never exploring my options would deeply discount the value of experience.