The insulin pen often has been touted as easier to use than the syringe, but that doesn’t mean it’s hassle-free. The biggest beef people with diabetes have with the pen is the variable in force required for the amount of insulin needed. Sometimes, pen users have trouble telling if they’ve injected a low dose of insulin, while a large dose often requires significant hand strength.
Danish diabetes device manufacturer Novo Nordisk believes it has found a way to improve pen design to make their pens easier to use. The company recently announced that it has gained FDA approval for its NovoLog Flextouch and Levemir Flextouch pens, a pair of automated dose insulin pens designed to take the guesswork out of pen injections.
As reported in FierceDrugDelivery, the two pens deliver insulin with the touch of a button. The spring-loaded design allows users to deliver a large dose of insulin with the same force as would normally be used for a low dose, the company says. Also, the pens incorporate an end-of-dose click, so users can know that the injection was successfully completed. And the pens offer greater dose range, from between 1 unit and 80 units of insulin, than what’s available on the U.S. market.
The pens, which have been available in the European Union since 2011, will start selling in the U.S in 2014, according to the company.
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