“Those living with diabetes for eight to ten years, with pills being unable to control the blood glucose levels, need to take insulin injections to prevent further complications. Yet, most of them are unwilling to switch to the shots. Around 93% of people wish for diabetes control without the use of insulin and there is a need to change this mindset. Initiating insulin early can prevent damage to the organs, nerve endings, and the eye,” said Dr SK Wangnoo.

Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, added: “Currently, there are six million people on insulin in India, but this number should at least be double. Insulin is a drug that is never abused and is very effective for the treatment of diabetes, yet people stay away from it. We are hoping that the convenience of using this drug would mean more and more people who are recommended insulin start using it.”

How much will it cost?

Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, said: “The Rs 261 per week cost is cheaper than the current price of other insulin analogues, which can cost anywhere between Rs 345 to 453 a week. This drug will essentially cost around Rs 50 a day.” The medicine will be available in two different doses of pre-filled pens — a 700 unit/ ml costing Rs 2,611 and a 2,100 unit/ ml costing Rs 7,883. A patient usually needs around 70 units per week, which may need to be scaled up depending on their requirement.

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Shrotriya adds: “By introducing better diabetes management products, we want to bring down the HbA1c level (a measure of average blood glucose levels over the last three months) from 8 to 7 in India.”

What are the side-effects?

The most common side effect of the medicine is hypoglycemia — a condition where the blood glucose levels fall too much — that can affect one in ten persons. Dr Wangnoo, however, assures that this is the same level as seen with other daily insulin shots.

In type-1 diabetics — those who have diabetes because their body does not produce insulin — hypoglycemic events are more common with this drug than the daily insulin. “This usually happens because of a mismatch in the insulin dose that the type-1 diabetics take before a meal and the calories in the meal,” said Dr Wangnoo. Type-1 diabetics have to continue taking their pre-meal fast-acting insulin shots, but they can replace their daily long-acting insulin shot with this, resulting in fewer pricks.