I’ve been using insulin cartridges and pens for 8-10 years, switching between Novalog and Humalog at the whims of my MA insurance. I am currently using Humalog with the Lilly Luxura pen. About a month ago the pen locked up and failed to deliver an insulin dose. When I called Lilly about getting a replacement pen, they informed me they no longer manufactured an insulin pen, had any left in stock, nor could they guarantee correct dosage if I found another pen that would take their cartridges (Novalog Echo pens won’t accept a Humalog cartridge). All this even though Lilly’s website showed the Luxura pen and how to use it with Humalog cartridges.
This post is mainly a heads up if any forum users still use the Lilly Luxura pen and Humalog cartridges. Start planning on an alternative. I 1/2 unit dose, so the Lilly Junior KwikPen is my only option under my insurance. Vials and syringes are another option, but they are far from convenient.
Have you seen Medtronic’s pen? .5 unit dosing and it logs to an app if you want. Versions available for Humalog and Novolog and others.
Diabetes - InPen™ Smart Insulin Pen | Medtronic
Ugly like the novopen echo and they say you have to get a new pen every year.
Wow, you must have purchased one of the last Luxura pens available in the US, as they were discontinued about ten years ago. I keep one as a backup to my digital pens that dose in 0.1 units in case of issues with the digital pen. The best digital pens were the Pendiq 2.0 made in Korea but they were discontinued during Covid. I now use a Phray PH500 0.1 dose digital pen out of China. The Chinese digital pen is more advanced than the Korean digital pens as not only does it dose in 0.1 units, but it has a pulsing feature that pulse delivers insulin so that it is never painful. The Chinese pen, however, is not as robust as the Korean Pendiq’s.
Manual pens are still available outside of the US, sometimes on Canadian insulin websites and always on Aliexpress out of China. India also has them on some of its ecomm websites. The problem is that the Luxura is not currently available, and currently no overseas knockoff will deliver Lilly insulin in 0.5 units. All the Lilly mechanical pens currently deliver in 1.0 units. Some pens accept Novo cartridges and do deliver in 0.5 units, commonly referred to as pens for children.
Thanks for the offer, but I dug around in my supply box and found an old Luxura pen labeled “sample” that seems to work. I need it to function for 8 more cartridges then I’ll move on to the Junior KwikPen.
The In-Pen is pricey, designed for Medtronic’s CGM (I use Dexcom) and only lasts year.
Too bad those over seas pens aren’t available in the US.
I just buy them online on an overseas ecommerce website and have them shipped to the US. Shipping usually takes 1-4 weeks to arrive in the US. They are, of course, not FDA approved, but I prefer to buy the best quality available regardless of the country of origin.
The “sample” ones are, I think, mostly free give-aways for endo’s to share with patients who want to try. They are functionally the same.
This works with Lilly insulin. Only 2 left it says. Hope you can get one.
The problem with the Savio is that it only doses in 1 unit increments
True