I was wondering if anyone has heard of Apidra? I gadn't until I was in the hospital. It seems to have helped me alot. I take it before meals and I take less of it. I am also taking less of my Lantus also. The best part for me is that it comes in pen form also.
I took Apidra in pen form for a long time in pen form. It worked great for me. Then I could not get it anywhere. My druggist called everywhere and could not get it. Is it being made again or is this old stock?
Hi SEAGATOR. Emily posted a discussion recently stating that Apidra pens are available again: http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/apidrausers/forum/topic/show?id=583967%3ATopic%3A2707533&xg_source=msg. I think some pharmacies haven't yet got the news, so you might have to ask your pharmacy to order them for you.
Hi JudyAnn. I love my Apidra! For me at least, no other insulin can do a correction so quickly. For bolusing it starts quickly and has a short tail, leaving my system in about 3 1/2 hours
I find it to be a somewhat temperature sensitive though, so I'm careful to keep it cool when traveling, and to keep my vial in the fridge even after it has been opened. Not sure about whether or not it's best to keep the pen refrigerated after opening, but I would certainly keep it room temperature to cool.
Apidra insulin is a fast-acting insulin similar to Novolog and Humalog. I have never taken it, but many people like it better than the Novolog and Humalog, like Trudy.
Apidra is great and actually is free right now! My doctor explained it that the makers of Apidra are paying the patient co-pays. I never thought I would walk into Walgreens and walk out with insulin without paying a cent! I imagine that this is probably why the pharmacies seem to be out of it at the moment. I know my pharmacy was out and had to order more before I could fill my prescription.
For Sanofi Aventis the revenue in 2009 out of Apidra were 137 million euros worldwide. I did not find newer figures but I think it must have increased significantly since then. Here you will find a description of the available analog insulins and their characteristics with links to the specific insulin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_analog
Thanks Trudy. I will do that. I really liked it. Very upset when I could not get it/ Reed
I have been taking lantus for years, now I read they are doing a study of potential carcinogenicity. Great just what I wanted to hear ! Thanks for the link Holger.
"All insulin analogs must be tested for carcinogenicity, as insulin engages in cross-talk with IGF pathways, which can cause abnormal cell growth and tumorigenesis. Modifications to insulin always carry the risk of unintentionally enhancing IGF signalling in addition to the desired pharmacological properties.[citation needed]. Recently there has been concern with the carcinogenicity of glargine but is yet to be proven. The FDA has instructed for a large scale study evaluating the carcinogenicity of glargine. The study result is expected in a few years."
My doc recommended it when I started pumping. I read some bad posts here on it, some folks don't do well with it. So, I've held off as I seem to be the type that normally doesn't do well. Like with Lipitor, it messed me up bad. But, for many it does do very well.