My daughter was diagnosed with T1D in 2009. She has only ever used Humalog. Now her insurance company says as of January 2026 Humalog will no longer be in their formulary so that she will have to switch to Novolog. Has anyone on the forum ever used one and then the other? And has it made any difference at all in terms of your diabetes management? In other words, is there any significant difference? I don’t know if it’s relevant but our daughter is quite insulin sensitive.
My ins has switched me back and forth between these two. For me, they’re mostly the same. I find Humalog to be slightly faster and with slightly less of a tail, but really no functional difference. They are different formulations though, so everyone can have a different experience
There is a chemical difference I believe but some people switch and never have an issue. You might try it. Also look at the reaction times. I was allergic to Humalog so I had to get authorizations to not have to change.
I am more of a Humalog fan. As said already some never notice a difference. I have tried Novalog a few times for various reasons and Novalog was a little slower for me and I had more of a problem with dropping at night because of that. But plenty of people love Novalog.
Usually with insurance they will want you to try the Novalog and if it doesn’t work as well your doctor can put in an appeal for Humalog. Saying why your daughter needs it because etc. If that happens though the Humalog will be covered but usually under a higher tier cost, I don’t think the $35 is a cap when it isn’t one of the insulins covered under their regular formulary.
I’ve been switched back and forth between the 2. I noticed not difference with MDI (multiple daily injections), but using a Tandem T:Slim X2 pump Humalog starts being less effective on day 3. This doesn’t happen with Novolog.
Tandem recommends to change cartridges after 2 days with Humalog. They don’t give reasons but it is probably interaction with the plastic bag that this system uses., most other pump systems use a rigid plastic reservoir.. It’s not an extreme effect, and probably most won’t notice. I tend to watch my numbers obsessively.
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@Luis3 I do remember reading somewhere that Humalog breaks down faster in plastic. It was in relation to it being used in Omnipods and sometimes switching to Novalog in the pods cleared up peoples problems. That was one of the times I tried Novalog to see if it helped my problem with pod/site failures. It didn’t matter for me, the sites failed just the same. I think @Eric2 is the one that is familiar with it.
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I use a pump and switched from Humalog to Novalog for insurance. Didn’t change my settings and experienced no noticeable change in my control.
I have experience with both Humalog and Novolog and notice no difference.
I’ve used both over the years and I don’t see any difference.
Humalog is made using RNA transcriptase using bacteria. Bacteria also produce tyramine, which many people react adversely to. Novolog is made using RNA transcriptase using fungi, which don’t product tyramine. Humalog make many people sick without knowing it.
John
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