Tresiba Pens

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Flower3333

Flower3333

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
The pharmacy informed me today that there is shortage of Tresiba pre-filled pens. Therefore I’ve got to request a new prescription from my GP for the cartridges. I need to know what pen to request for the cartridges. Can anyone help with this question?
 
Tresiba is manufactured by NovoNordisk
Therefore any of the NovoPens will work with the cartridges.
I believe there are a few options depending whether you need half units or not.
 
Hello @Flower,

My reusable pen is described on my prescription list as: "NovoPen Echo hypodermic insulin injection pen reusable for 3ml cartridge 0.5 unit dial up / range 0.5-30 units Blue (Novo Nordisk Ltd)".

I received this in 2021 and at that time there were only 2 colours available, red and blue; I wanted to have 2 colours, since I had Tresiba and NovoRapid insulins. When my surgery ordered my other pen they didn't include the word Red on the actual request and a 2nd blue pen arrived because the numeric code was for a blue pen and that took some extra time to get resolved. Not insurmountable, but a nuisance slightly unnecessarily since the GP Surgery didn't appreciate that in this digital age the alpha numeric code mattered. Both my NovoPen Echo pens discharge half units, from 0.5 to 30 units. Both have a cap on the end that provides a simple display of how long ago insulin was discharged and approximately how recently that insulin was released. Both are ideal for my needs.

However I see that on the novonordisk.com website that there are now 2 smart pens being advertised, the NovoPen 6 in silver (which only delivers whole units) and the NovoEcho Plus in red (which delivers half units). Both these pens have the smart technology that sends information about the dose released using Near Field Communication (NFC). I don't need the extra tech.

I suggest you might find it informative to Google these slightly different reusable pens (the basic NovoPen Echo and the Novonordisk smart pens) and see for yourself the differences. I am delighted with the reusable pens, they are nicer to hold and use, take up much less space with only cartridges in the fridge and unequivocally better for the environment. My insulin usage is not huge and I also appreciate the incremental half-unit doses. I think you'll find the switch from disposable pens to reusable an improvement.

One note of caution. Even with only Tresiba cartridges you must own 2 reusable pens, the 2nd as a reserve. Although these pens are very durable and should comfortably last 4+ yrs, if one fails (whether naturally or from being dropped and/or crushed) you will always need a reserve pen for dispensing insulin at any time of the day and night! I always take my reserve on my travels, but not on half-day trips - because in extremis I can use my bolus reusable pen to dispense basal and vice-versa, switching cartridges is easy enough, just a faff.
 
The reusable pens by Novo Nordisk are really nice quality and more environmentally friendly than the prefilled disposable pens, so in some respects it is fortuitous that you are being pushed into this change, as I think you will find it beneficial.
If you take relatively small doses, then the NovoPen Echo Plus is probably your best choice as you can adjust it by half units, but this limits individual doses up to 30units I believe, but of course you can just dial up another amount if you need more after injecting the first 30. I imagine the NovoPen 6 will inject up to 60 units at one shot (I haven't checked this) but will only do single units, not half units.

If you use small doses, the half unit with the NovoPen Echo can be really helpful for fine tuning your dose. I have blue for basal and red for bolus as that was similar to the green for Levemir and orange for NovoRapid that I was used to with the disposable pens. The cartridges take up less room in your fridge too, so lots of benefits to swapping to reusable pens and if you also have a NovoNordisk bolus insulin ie. NovoRapid or Fiasp, ask about changing to cartridges and a reusable pen for that too.
 
rebrascora said:
I imagine the NovoPen 6 will inject up to 60 units at one shot (I haven't checked this) but will only do single units, not half units.
Click to expand...
That's correct. (I use NovoPen 6 because though I inject less than 30 units at a time I tend to inject more than 10 units most of the time so half units didn't seem like much of a win.)
 
Loved my Novopens!! Great bits of kit - and I didn’t even have the fancy new ones!
 
Flower3333 said:
The pharmacy informed me today that there is shortage of Tresiba pre-filled pens. Therefore I’ve got to request a new prescription from my GP for the cartridges. I need to know what pen to request for the cartridges. Can anyone help with this question?
Click to expand...
I’m also on pre-filled tresiba,went to collect mine today and was told they are no longer making these and are requesting everyone to go onto cartridges.
 
The robin said:
I’m also on pre-filled tresiba,went to collect mine today and was told they are no longer making these and are requesting everyone to go onto cartridges.
Click to expand...
For the last month, people have been reporting a shortage of pre-filled Tresiba but the cartridges are still available for the reusable pens,
 
The robin said:
I’m also on pre-filled tresiba,went to collect mine today and was told they are no longer making these and are requesting everyone to go onto cartridges.
Click to expand...
I would love to think that was a policy decision on the part of Novo Nordisk to stop producing disposable pens and move entirely to cartridges. Then hopefully clinics would have to start people off with reusable pens. Will be interesting to see if it is just Tresiba or if other people report this with NR and Fiasp too.... Or if it is misinformation from the pharmacist and it is just another logistical issue with the wholesalers! 🙄
 
Does anyone know what the best needles are for the Novopens? I’ve now got the new pens but I didn’t realise that they took different needles from the pre-filled pens.
 
Been told today by the pharmacy that there is a problem with tresiba pens at the manufacturer regarding plastic.They said if tresiba pre-filled pens come back on the market,it won’t be until January I’ve been put on the nova 6 pen now ( need to read all the info) with tresiba cartridges.
 
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