First 300 Smaller Vial Of Insulin From Lilly Available In US

Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) has announced the availability of a first smaller insulin vial in the US, containing 3ml (300 units) of insulin, for people with diabetes undergoing treatment in a hospital.

The new smaller vial for Humalog (insulin lispro injection [rDNA origin]) and Humulin R-U100 (regular insulin human injection, USP [rDNA origin)]), is intended to provide hospitals more flexibility when evaluating insulin storage, delivery and distribution options.

The company said that a vial of insulin contains 10ml, or 1,000 ‘units’ of insulin. Based on customer feedback and the average length of stay in the hospital for patients with diabetes, Lilly developed this new option to help meet the needs of hospital customers.

Lilly is expected to provide the new smaller vial to hospitals in January 2010. The company will also continue to provide the traditional 10ml insulin vial, as well as additional delivery options for hospital patients, including Humalog KwikPen, a pen injection device that comes prefilled with Humalog insulin, and the original Humalog prefilled pen.

Matt Beebe, team leader of US insulin brand at Lilly, said: “This new ‘small vial’ is another example of a tool Lilly is delivering to our customers to help provide solutions for the complexities of treating the epidemic of diabetes here in the US.”

“Partnering with our institutional customers, we believe hospitals will find it to be a valuable option when evaluating their insulin storage, delivery and distribution needs.”