Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Pharmacological Properties of Faster-Acting Insulin Aspart

  • Therapies and New Technologies in the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes (M Pietropaolo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Diabetes Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Faster aspart is a new formulation of insulin aspart (IAsp) produced by adding the excipients niacinamide and L-arginine. As this new, “ultra-rapid insulin” is available in the EU-market and Canada, the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics data is summarized.

Recent Findings

Faster aspart shows an earlier onset of appearance of insulin in the bloodstream after subcutaneous administration and an earlier onset of glucose-lowering action and a higher glycemic effect within the first 30 min. Faster aspart administered by pump is indeed faster than conventional aspart with a faster on (− 11 min), faster off (− 24 min), and more than 100% greater insulin action within the first 30 min. Tolerability of faster aspart is similar to that of Iasp; the same holds true for compatibility in pump use.

Summary

Faster aspart shows a faster occurrence of insulin in the blood compared with IAsp in subcutaneous injection. Improvements over current analogs may be more pronounced in pumps than with injections. Data from phase IIIa studies confirm the reduction of postprandial glucose excursions that can be achieved with faster aspart.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

  1. Pandyarajan V, Weiss MA. Design of non-standard insulin analogs for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Curr Diab Rep. 2012;12(6):697–704.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Heinemann L, Muchmore DB. Ultrafast-acting insulins: state of the art. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2012;6:728–42.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Heise T. Getting closer to physiologic insulin secretion. Clin Ther. 2007;29(Suppl. D):S161–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Overmann H, Heinemann L. Injection-meal interval: recommendations of diabetologists and how patients handle it. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 1999;43:137–42.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Gallwitz B, Westrup D, Schmeisl G-W. Stellenwert der Insulinanaloga bei der Therapie von Menschen mit Typ-2-Diabetes. DMW. 2014;139:2199–203.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Fullerton B, Siebenhofer A, Jeitler K, Horvath K, Semlitsch T, Berghold A, et al. Short-acting insulin analogues versus regular human insulin for adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016;6:CD012161.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Siebenhofer A, Plank J, Berghold A, Jeitler K, Horvath K, Narath M, et al. Short acting insulin analogues versus regular human insulin in patients with diabetes mellitus. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;2:CD003287.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bode BW, Weinstein R, Bell D, et al. Comparison of insulin aspart with buffered regular insulin and insulin lispro in continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion. Diabetes Care. 2002;25:439–44.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Radermecker RP, Scheen AJ. Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion with short-acting insulin analogues or human regular insulin: efficacy, safety, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2004;20(3):178–88.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Brod M, Nikolajsen A, Weatherall J, Pfeiffer KM. Understanding post-prandial hyperglycemia in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes: a web-based survey in Germany, the UK, and USA. Diabetes Ther. 2016a;7(2):335–48.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Brod M, Nikolajsen A, Weatherall J, Pfeiffer KM. The economic burden of post-prandial hyperglycemia (PPH) among people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in three countries. Diabetes Ther. 2016;7(1):75–90.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Cengiz E, Bode B, Van Name M, Tamborlane WV. Moving toward the ideal insulin for insulin pumps. Expert Rev Med Devices. 2016;13(1):57–69.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Andersen G, Alluis B, Meiffren G, Ranson A, Soula O, Seroussi C, Fischer A, et al. The ultra-rapid BioChaperone® lispro shows a faster onset of action and stronger early metabolic effect than Humalog®. EASD 2014, 16th September 2014, Vienna, Austria: Poster #934.

  14. Krasner A, Pohl R, Simms P, Pichotta P, Hauser R, De Souza E. A review of a family of ultra-rapid-acting insulins: formulation development. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2012;6:786–96.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Frost GI. Recombinant human hyaluronidase (rHuPH20): an enabling platform for subcutaneous drug and fluid administration. Exp Opin Drug Deliv. 2007;4:427–40.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Buckley ST, Jeppesen CB, Olsen HB, Hostrup S, Sturis J. Faster-acting insulin aspart: towards an understanding of the mechanism(s) of action of nicotinamide. Diabetes. 2015;64(Suppl. 1):A262. 1024-P

    Google Scholar 

  17. Buckley ST, Kildegaard J, Høiberg-Nielsen R, Bekker Jeppesen C, Birk Olsen H, Refsgaard HHF, et al. Mechanistic analysis into the mode(s) of action of niacinamide in faster-acting insulin aspart. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2016;18(Suppl.1):A116–7.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Heise T, Haahr H, Jensen L, et al. Faster-acting insulin aspart improves postprandial glycemia vs insulin aspart in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Diabetes. 2014;63(Suppl. 1):A34. 129-OR

    Google Scholar 

  19. Heise T, Zijlstra E, Nosek L, LicEng TR, Haahr H. Pharmacological properties of faster-acting insulin aspart vs insulin aspart in patients with type 1 diabetes receiving continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion: a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2016; https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.12803.

  20. Heise T, Stender-Petersen K, Hövelmann U, Bonde Jacobsen J, Nosek L, Zijlstra E, et al. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of faster-acting insulin aspart versus insulin aspart across a clinically relevant dose range in subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2016; https://doi.org/10.1007/s40262-016-0473-5.

  21. Heise T, Hövelmann U, Zijlstra E, Stender-Petersen K, Bonde Jacobsen J, Haahr H. A comparison of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties between faster-acting insulin aspart and insulin aspart in elderly subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Drugs Aging. 2016; https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-016-0418-6.

  22. • Bode BW, Johnson JA, Hyveled L, Tamer SC, Demissie M. Improved postprandial glycemic control with faster-acting insulin aspart in patients with type 1 diabetes using continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2017; https://doi.org/10.1089/dia.2016.0350. In this study, the use of faster-acting insulin aspart in insulin pump use is shown

  23. •• Russell-Jones D, Bode BW, De Block C, Franek E, Heller SR, Mathieu C, et al. Fast-acting insulin aspart improves glycemic control in basal-bolus treatment for type 1 diabetes: results of a 26-week multicenter, active-controlled, treat-to-target, randomized, parallel-group trial (onset 1). Diabetes Care. 2017; https://doi.org/10.2337/dc16-1771. This article shows the results of a multicenter real-life study of faster-acting insulin aspart in adults which was the pivotal trial

  24. Bowering K, Case C, Harvey J, Reeves M, Sampson M, Strzinek R, et al. Faster aspart versus insulin aspart as part of a basal-bolus regimen in inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes: the onset 2 trial. Diabetes Care. 2017; https://doi.org/10.2337/dc16-1770.

  25. •• Heise T, Pieber TR, Danne T, Erichsen L, Haahr H. A pooled analysis of clinical pharmacology trials investigating the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of fast-acting insulin aspart in adults with type 1 diabetes. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2017;56(5):551–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40262-017-0514-8. Heise et al. show data from several studies which show in pooled analysis the time benefit of faster-acting insulin aspart

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Fath M, Danne T, Biester T, Erichsen L, Kordonouri O, Haahr H. Faster-acting insulin aspart provides faster onset and greater early exposure vs insulin aspart in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Pediatr Diabetes. 2017; https://doi.org/10.1111/pedi.12506.

  27. Zijlstra E, Demissie M, Graungaard T, et al. Compatibility and safety of faster-acting insulin aspart used in continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes. The Endocrine Society’s 98th Annual Meeting and Expo, Boston, MA, USA. 1–4 April 2016a: Poster number FRI-697.

  28. Weinzimer SA, Steil GM, Swan KL, Dziura J, Kurtz N, Tamborlane WV. Fully automated closed-loop insulin delivery versus semiautomated hybrid control in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes using an artificial pancreas. Diabetes Care. 2008b;31:934–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Chase HP, Doyle FJ 3rd, Zisser H, Renard E, Nimri R, Control to Range Study Group, et al. Multicenter closed-loop/hybrid meal bolus insulin delivery with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2014;16(10):623–32.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. AUF DER BULT, Diabetes Center for Children and Adolescents, Janusz-Korczak-Allee 12, 30173, Hannover, Germany

    Torben Biester, Olga Kordonouri & Thomas Danne

Authors
  1. Torben Biester
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Olga Kordonouri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas Danne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Torben Biester.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

Torben Biester received research support from Medtronic, speaker’s honoraria from Medtronic and Ypsomed, and travel support from Novo Nordisk.

Olga Kordonouri received honoraria for participating on an advisory board of Novo Nordisk as well as speaker’s honoraria from Eli Lilly and Sanofi. She also owns DreaMed stocks.

Thomas Danne reports the following conflicts of interest: AstraZeneca (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Boehringer (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Bristol-Myers Squibb (Advisory Panel), DexCom (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Eli Lilly (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Johnson & Johnson (Advisory Panel, Research Support), Medtronic (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Novo Nordisk (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Roche (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Sanofi (Speaker, Advisory Panel, Research Support), Unomedical (Advisory Panel, Research Support), Ypsomed (Speaker, Research Support). Stock Options/Holdings/Board of Directors DreaMed Ltd.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Therapies and New Technologies in the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Biester, T., Kordonouri, O. & Danne, T. Pharmacological Properties of Faster-Acting Insulin Aspart. Curr Diab Rep 17, 101 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-017-0931-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-017-0931-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation