Animal Insulin

[SuperBee]

Before Covid my pharmacist said that there were only three diabetics on animal in the area. I sm his only one and another pharmacy has two. Considering there are four large GP practices and six pharmacies that is a minimal number.

How many here on animal insulin?

 

[Kaylz]

Can't say I've noticed many that or on animal insulin here, I think @Pumper_Sue was at one point

There is only 1 manufacturer of animal insulin based in the UK, Novo Nordisk stopped there's in the UK in 2007 and apparently in 2002 they were supplying only 20,000 UK residents with it xx

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yes Sue used bovine for many years if I remember rightly (in an insulin pump as well as via injection). When Wockhardt ceased production of bovine insulin, I believe she switched to Fiasp.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Before Covid my pharmacist said that there were only three diabetics on animal in the area. I sm his only one and another pharmacy has two. Considering there are four large GP practices and six pharmacies that is a minimal number.

How many here on animal insulin?

I used Bovine insulin for over 50 years. If I wasn't allergic to porcine insulin I would be using that. Unfortunately there are certain ingredients of bovine insulin no longer available hence I had to stop using it.
If you think about it there has to be more than enough people using porcine insulin though otherwise it would not be cost effective to manufacture it.

 

[Inka]

There are 4 people at my GPS surgery using animal insulin @SuperBee . I also know at least 3 people (not local to me) who’ve changed onto it in the last few years.

Both animal insulin and the original human insulin are good. Different insulins suit different people and we should all have a choice. What annoys me is the idea that newer must be better insulin-wise. That’s not true - sometimes it’s not only not better, it’s actually an awful lot worse.

The other thing that irritates me is the ignorance and dismissal of animal insulin. You can’t use it in a pump? Absolute rubbish! Too many HCPs are dismissive of it when, for some people, it could be the best option.

 

[Lucyr]

This might be a bit naive but, is animal insulin literally just insulin taken from animals?

 

[Inka]

This might be a bit naive but, is animal insulin literally just insulin taken from animals?

Yes (the porcine insulin is a ‘by-product’ of the bacon/pork industry and that’s the only bad thing about it IMO). Animal insulin is the original insulin - the one that was used for decades and decades after the discovery, extraction and purification of insulin. It’s also the one used in the first insulin pumps (which is why the myth above in my post is so stupid).

 

[SuperBee]

Yes (the porcine insulin is a ‘by-product’ of the bacon/pork industry and that’s the only bad thing about it IMO). Animal insulin is the original insulin - the one that was used for decades and decades after the discovery, extraction and purification of insulin. It’s also the one used in the first insulin pumps (which is why the myth above in my post is so stupid).

Well I was told you couldn't pump animal insulin. I was subsequently told another lie in that you could not have a CGM on MDI. I was charged £25 for Accu-Chek software that is free to pump users!

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Well I was told you couldn't pump animal insulin. I was subsequently told another lie in that you could not have a CGM on MDI. I was charged £25 for Accu-Chek software that is free to pump users!

Considering pumps were about before synthetic insulin, you need to ask what they used in the pump as it wasn't washing up liquid.

There is 50 year old research that says animal insulin clogs in the tubing. The medics like to quote this fact even though animal insulin is now purified.
I pumped for many years using bovine insulin, but had to self fund it to start with and never once had any pump blockages, yet since using Fiasp I've had many failed deliveries.

When you have all these hurdles thrown at you it's because the HCP's have no knowledge of animal insulin's and have no intention of finding out.

If you want to use a pump with animal insulin in it then contact John Hughes at Advanced therapeutics as he an expert in the field.

 

[Inka]

Well I was told you couldn't pump animal insulin. I was subsequently told another lie in that you could not have a CGM on MDI. I was charged £25 for Accu-Chek software that is free to pump users!

The IDDT will point you to recent evidence that modern highly purified animal insulins don’t block pumps at all - no more than analogues. It’s rubbish. Animal insulin is fine in a pump just as @Pumper_Sue says.

There’s absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t be. Those saying it can’t be used are, IMO, using that as an excuse to cover their own ignorance about it.

 

[trophywench]

I used porcine Wellcome Foundation Ultralente insulin (colour code shocking pink and lime green) from 1972 to 1994. I only stopped using it when it stopped working for me, consultant at the time said it wasn't unusual and what they used to have to do was swap porcine for bovine or vice versa. However as they'd not long invented and released Humulin, so that's what I got.

 

[trophywench]

Well yes - cos animal insulin does not work exactly the same as artificial ones - it's generally a lot gentler (you know, being as we're animals as well as the cows and pigs) and doesn't have the same activity pattern.