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New data published this week in Expert Opinion Pharmacotherapy has revealed that Next Generation FlexPen®, Novo Nordisk’s prefilled insulin delivery device, has a significantly lower injection force than two other devices, SoloStar® and KwikPen®. Previous studies show that people with diabetes prefer a lower injection force.
The study revealed that the injection (dose) force of Next Generation FlexPen was 12–25% lower than SoloStar and 35–41% lower than KwikPen. In addition to the reduced injection force, this study and others have shown that Next Generation FlexPen has advantages over SoloStar and KwikPen in providing improved accuracy.
“Patients with diabetes generally prefer an insulin device with a lower injection force because it provides significantly less discomfort when injecting, especially for patients with impaired manual dexterity,” said Professor Andreas Pfützner, Institute for Clinical Research and Development, Mainz, Germany. “It is vitally important for the sake of compliance and individual satisfaction that patients with diabetes are comfortable with their insulin device as it is something they have to use on a daily basis.”
Next Generation FlexPen has been available in some countries from late 2008 and is continuing to be launched in countries around the world. It has built upon the high standards set by FlexPen. New features include 30% less force when injecting, coloured cartridge holders, labels and packaging to aid insulin type identification for patients and an innovative simple and easy needle attachment with a ‘just twist’ mechanism which allows the NovoTwist™ needle to be attached (to be launched from June 2009). This makes the device the first pen to be designed for use with a new generation of needles, which have a patented state-of-the-art attachment interface. These features provide improved convenience and ease of use for people with diabetes.
The study compared the dose forces of Next Generation FlexPen, SoloStar and KwikPen by injecting 20 units of insulin using two different-gauge needles (NovoFine® 32G and BD Micro-fine™ 31G). Pens of each type were tested at injection speeds of 3.3, 5.0 and 8.3mm/s. At all three injection speeds and with both needles, Next Generation FlexPen had a significantly lower average injection force than either SoloStar or KwikPen, whilst KwikPen had the highest mean injection force. Furthermore, the injection force with all three pens was lower when the NovoFine 32G needle was used as opposed to the BD Micro-fine 31G.
