COMPARISON OF THE TIME-ACTION PROFILES OF U40-REGULAR AND U100-REGULAR HUMAN INSULIN AND THE RAPID-ACTING INSULIN ANALOG B28 ASP

It is well known that rapid-acting insulin analogues like insulin aspa rt (B28Asp) show a faster onset and a shorter duration of action than currently available U100 soluble insulin preparations. Since this effe ct is mainly due to a lower concentration of slow-absorbable hexamers, the metabolic profile of human insulin in lower concentration (e.g. U 40 insulin) might be more similar to that of insulin aspart. Therefore , we compared the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of U4 0 soluble insulin with insulin aspart (U100) and with U100 human insul in. Eight healthy volunteers received on different study days s.c. inj ection of insulin aspart and U40 insulin (0.2 U/kg body weight) under euglycaemic clamp conditions (blood glucose 5 mmol/l, basal i.v, insul in infusion 0.15 mU/kg/min). In a second study, U40 and U100 soluble i nsulin was administered to 9 other volunteers under similar conditions . No significant differences were observed between the summary measure s of U40 and U100 insulin. Insulin aspart showed a faster onset and a shorter duration of action than U40 insulin. The metabolic activity of human insulin in concentrations of U40 and U100 is comparable. Subcut aneous injection of the insulin analogue insulin aspart leads to a fas ter onset and a shorter duration of action even in comparison to U40 i nsulin.