Novo Nordisk's Levemir lowers ave blood sugar

Denmark's Novo Nordisk has highlighted results, published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, from the TITRATE study showing that  Levemir (insulin detemir), taken once daily, substantially lowered  average blood sugar.

The open-label TITRATE study was a prospective, randomized, controlled  trial to examine the effect of people self dosing of Levemir once daily  using two FPG targets on blood sugar control. In the study, 244 type 2  diabetes patients taking oral antidiabetes drugs, who had never before  used insulin, were assigned to one of two treatment groups: using  70mg/dL-90mg/dL or 80mg/dL-110mg/dL as their fasting blood sugar  targets. After being trained and given an adjustment schedule by their  physician, patients continued their use of oral diabetes drugs and  changed their insulin dose every three days. Levemir was initiated at  0.1 unit/kg to 0.2 unit/kg or 10 units once-daily at dinner or bedtime.

In the study, 64.3% of patients in the 70-90mg/dL FPG target treatment  group and 54.5% of those in the 80-110mg/dL FPG cohort reached the ADA  recommended A1C level of less than 7%. A1C levels in the 70-90 mg/dL  group decreased by 1.2% to an average A1C of 6.77%; A1C levels in the  80-110 mg/dL arm fell by 0.9% to mean A1C level of 7%.