By Samuel Onyekwere
There is hope for diabetes patients for a more effective management of
their case with the launch of Insulin degludec, manufactured by Novo
Nordisk.
Giving a breakdown of the new drug at a media launch, Professor Surendra Sharma of the Mahatma Ganhdi Institute of Medical Science, Jairpur, India, said Insulin degludec has an ultra-long duration of action lasting beyond 42 hours, which allows for flexibility in day-to-day dosing time.
Insulin degludec provides a lower risk of overall severe and nocturnal hypoglycemia and comparable reductions of blood glucose levels.1-4. He said as with India, Nigerians eat a lot of unhealthy food that raise their sugar level, adding that it is important that everyone cultivates the habit of eating healthy food. According to him, more enlightenment should be carried out by governments and other relevant bodies.
Mads Bo Larsen, Corporate Vice President, Business Area Africa & Gulf Novo Nordisk, said: “Novo Nordisk is determined to provide the best healthcare and treatment to people with diabetes. Our strategic partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the health sector involve educating patients, training healthcare professionals and strengthening healthcare systems.
“In Africa, under the Changing Diabetes initiatives we run several projects such as the Changing Diabetes in Children (CDiC) & the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) project.
“The BoP project is planned to reach 400,000 patients. Novo Nordisk has medical education and mentoring programs like the Buddy Doctor Initiative where Senior Consultant Endocrinologists & Diabetologists train General Practitioners (GPs) on how to manage diabetes. This is currently running in Nigeria. We are firmly committed to working towards alleviating the burden of diabetes and supporting people with diabetes live a healthy life. Novo Nordisk provides half of the world’s
insulin.”
President of the Endocrine and Metabolism Society of Nigeria, Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, at the launch revealed that Nigeria is on the average losing about N92 billion yearly to the scourge of diabetes which he said seems to be on the increase on a daily basis and this amount is expected to double by 2045. The University don, who is also a Consultant Physician Endocriminologists at LUTH, puts the prevalent rate at 5million affected people and more than half of these numbers are not diagnosed.
Some are not diagnosed because the type 2 diabetes may not have any symptom, hence the need for people to continuously taste their blood sugar.
He added that a patient who has complication may be indebted to the tune of N500, 000 – N1millon.
Diabetes, he said, kills more people than the trio of tuberculosis, HIV and malaria. From his working experience based on interaction with patients that have ailments like stroke, heart attack, blindness, kidney problem and limp amputation, they all have links to diabetes.
Professor Thomas Pieber from the Division of Endocrinology & Diabetology, Medical University of Graz, Austria, said patients with hypoglycemia are at risk of death, hence the introduction of Insulin Degludec which reduces the risk of casualty. The development of the anti diabetes degludec provides low variability for the diabetes patient. Hypoglycemia was more common in the patients in the
last 10-15 years.
Insulin degludec has been shown to provide low variability in blood glucose, which is associated with a lower risk of severe hypoglycemia.
In the cardiovascular outcomes trial, DEVOTE, insulin degludec did not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events; while significantly reducing the rates of nocturnal severe and severe hypoglycaemia by 53% and 40%, respectively compared with insulin glargine U100, in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Insulin degludec is a once-daily basal insulin that provides a duration of action beyond 42 hours with a flat and stable glucose-lowering effect.1,7 . It provides low within-day and day-to-day variability and a lower risk of overall, nocturnal and severe hypoglycemia versus insulin glargine U100.1,4.
On occasions when administration at the same time of day is not possible, insulin degludec allows for flexibility in day-to-day dosing time with a minimum of eight hours between injections. Insulin degludec received its first regulatory approval in September 2012 and has since been approved in more than 80 countries globally. It is now commercially available in more than 50 countries.