It is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. The wholesale cost in the developing world is about US2. NPH insulin. 89 In the United Kingdom 1,0. NPH insulin costs the NHS 7. Medical useseditInsulin is used to treat a number of diseases including diabetes and its acute complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic states. It is also used along with glucose to treat high blood potassium levels. Insulin was formerly used in a psychiatric treatment called insulin shock therapy. If too much insulin is delivered or the person eats less than he or she dosed for, there may be hypoglycemia. On the other hand, if too little insulin is delivered, there will be hyperglycemia. Both can be life threatening. AllergyeditAllergy to Insulin products is rare with a prevalence of about 2, of which most reactions are not due to the insulin itself but to preservatives added to insulin such as zinc, protamine, and meta cresol. Most reactions are Type I hypersensitivity reactions and rarely cause anaphylaxis. A suspected allergy to insulin can be confirmed by skin prick testing, patch testing and occasionally skin biopsy. First line therapy against insulin hypersensitivity reactions include symptomatic therapy with antihistamines. The affected persons are then switched to a preparation that does not contain the specific agent they are reacting to or undergo desensitization. Principlesedit. The idealised diagram shows the fluctuation of blood sugar red and the sugar lowering hormone insulin blue in humans during the course of a day containing three meals. In addition, the effect of a sugar rich versus a starch rich meal is highlighted. Amino Acid Sequence of Insulin Preparations1. Amino Acid Substitutions A Chain Position B Chain Position. Source. Species. A 8. A 1. 0A 2. 1B 2. B 2. B 3. 0B 3. B 3. 2Bovine. Ala. Val. Asn. Pro. Lys. Ala. NAPorcine. Thr. Ile. Asn. Pro. Lys. Ala. NAHuman. Thr. Ile. Asn. Pro. Lys. Thr. NAAspart NovologThr. Ile. Asn. Asp. Lys. Thr. NALispro HumalogThr. Ile. Asn. Lys. Pro. Thr. NAGlulisine ApidraThr. Ile. Asn. Pro. Glu. Thr. NAGlargine LantusThr. Ilc. Gly. Pro. Lys. Thr. Arg. DetemirLevemirThr. Ile. Asn. Pro. Lys. NAMyristic Acid. DegludecTresibaThr. Ile. Asn. Pro. Lys. NAHexadecanedioic Acid. AlaAlanine ValValine AsnAsparagine ProProline LysLysine ThrThreonine IleIsoleucine GluGlutamine GlyGlycine. Insulin is required for all animal life excluding certain insects. Its mechanism of action is almost identical in nematode worms e. C. elegans, fish, and mammals, and it is a protein that has been highly conserved across evolutionary time. Insulin must be administered to patients who experience such a deprivation. Clinically, this condition is called diabetes mellitus type 1. The initial sources of insulin for clinical use in humans were cow, horse, pig or fish pancreases. Insulin from these sources is effective in humans as it is nearly identical to human insulin three amino acid difference in bovine insulin, one amino acid difference in porcine. Non Cooperation Movement Pdf more. Differences in suitability of beef, pork, or fish derived insulin for individual patients have historically been due to lower preparation purity resulting in allergic reactions to the presence of non insulin substances. Though purity has improved steadily since the 1. HPLC methods, minor allergic reactions still occur occasionally, although the same types of allergic reactions have also been known to occur in response to synthetic human insulin varieties. Insulin production from animal pancreases was widespread for decades, but very few patients today rely on insulin from animal sources, largely because few pharmaceutical companies sell it anymore. Biosynthetic human insulin is now manufactured for widespread clinical use using genetic engineering techniques using recombinant DNA technology, which the manufacturers claim reduces the presence of many impurities, although there is no clinical evidence to substantiate this claim. Eli Lilly marketed the first such insulin, Humulin, in 1. Humulin was the first medication produced using modern genetic engineering techniques in which actual human DNA is inserted into a host cell E. The host cells are then allowed to grow and reproduce normally, and due to the inserted human DNA, they produce a synthetic version of human insulin. However, the clinical preparations prepared from such insulins differ from endogenous human insulin in several important respects an example is the absence of C peptide which has in recent years been shown to have systemic effects itself. Genentech developed the technique Lilly used to produce Humulin, although the company never commercially marketed the product themselves. Novo Nordisk has also developed a genetically engineered insulin independently using a yeast process. According to a survey that the International Diabetes Federation conducted in 2. A majority of insulin used clinically today is produced this way, although the clinical evidence has provided conflicting evidence on whether these insulins are any less likely to produce an allergic reaction. Adverse reactions have been reported these include loss of warning signs that sufferers may slip into a coma through hypoglycemia, convulsions, memory lapse and loss of concentration. However, the International Diabetes Federations position statement is very clear in stating that there is NO overwhelming evidence to prefer one species of insulin over another and modern, highly purified animal insulins remain a perfectly acceptable alternative. Since January 2. 00. U. S. and some other countries are synthetic human insulins or their analogues. A special FDA importation process is required to obtain bovine or porcine derived insulin for use in the U. S., although there may be some remaining stocks of porcine insulin made by Lilly in 2. VetsulinSM in the U. S. for veterinary usage in the treatment of companion animals with diabetes. There are several problems with insulin as a clinical treatment for diabetes Mode of administration. Selecting the right dose and timing. The amount of carbohydrates one unit of insulin handles varies widely between persons and over the day but values between 7 and 2. IE is typical. Selecting an appropriate insulin preparation typically on speed of onset and duration of action grounds. Adjusting dosage and timing to fit food intake timing, amounts, and types. Adjusting dosage and timing to fit exercise undertaken. Adjusting dosage, type, and timing to fit other conditions, for instance the increased stress of illness. Variability in absorption into the bloodstream via subcutaneous delivery.