New meds make diabetics’ lives easier

IT HAS been described as a “new generation gamechanger” in Type II diabetes treatment and management, set to give more than just better control – but hope too.

Yesterday, Novo Nordisk, one of the world’s largest diabetes treatment companies, launched its first co-formulation of a short- and long-acting insulin analogue, which is billed to reduce the number of times patients inject themselves with insulin from four times a day to two.

Dr Timmy Kedijang, the vice-president of the South African base of the company, was among the main speakers at a media briefing yesterday.

He said: “The world is facing a big problem. To date, 450 million people are living with diabetes, 13 million of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa and 2.7 million in South Africa. Those numbers are predicted to double by 2030. We often hear of the scourge of HIV, TB and malaria, yet in 2015 alone, 5 million people died of diabetes and related complications.”

Type II diabetes is the most common type of the disease and is a result of the body not being able to produce enough insulin or when it cannot adequately respond to the insulin it produces.

The International Diabetes Federation describes insulin as a hormone produced by the pancreas that enables absorbed glucose from food to pass from the blood stream into cells, where it provides energy. Without it, glucose accumulates in the blood, starving cells of energy, causing damage to the blood vessels and nerves.

“Until recently, patients on four injections a day would also have to prick themselves around eight times a day to test blood sugar levels,” Kedijang said.

“But with this new co-formulation you inject yourself only twice and don’t have to take the tests. This product comes with hope.”

Kedijang said the product was registered in the country and cost about the same as other injections.

However, it wouldn’t be available in the public sector for the next 24 months as it had gone out to tender.