'Human' insulin versus animal insulin in people with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

A comparison of the effects of human and animal insulin as well as of the adverse reaction profile did not show clinically relevant differences. Many patient-oriented outcomes like health-related quality of life or diabetes complications and mortality were never investigated in high-quality randomised clinical trials. The story of the introduction of human might be repeated by contemporary launching campaigns to introduce pharmaceutical and technological innovations that are not backed up by sufficient proof of their advantages and safety.

Human insulin versus porcine insulin in rhesus monkeys with diabetes mellitus

“…In this study, we compared the effects of human and porcine insulin, as well as their adverse reaction profiles and found no clinically relevant differences. Our findings are in agreement with previous reports . Porcine insulin achieved good glycemic control (pre‐ and postprandial, bedtime, 24‐hour glucose levels, and within‐day glucose variability) to the same extent as human insulin in STZ‐induced diabetic rhesus monkeys.…”

“…The advent of human insulin may be solve these problems better than insulin isolated from animals . Notwithstanding, some researches supported the opposite opinion, holding the view that porcine insulin is effective in humans, maintaining blood glucose (BG) levels stable, and preventing long‐term diabetes complications . In the previous study , we found human and porcine insulin can both achieve glycemic control on diabetic monkey in short‐time period (1 month).…”

Insulin treatment

“…Currently, children are prescribed human insulins instead of porcine or bovine insulin because of low immunogenicity, but in many countries, these are being superceded by analogues. Porcine or bovine preparations may be cheaper and more readily available in some parts of the world. They are not inferior in clinical efficacy to human insulins (52) (A). Some locally manufactured preparations have greater immunogenicity, and high titer antibodies may alter pharmacodynamics by acting as insulin‐binding proteins.…”

“…Porcine or bovine preparations may be cheaper and more readily available in some parts of the world. They are not inferior in clinical efficacy to human insulins (52) (A). Some locally manufactured preparations have greater immunogenicity, and high titer antibodies may alter pharmacodynamics by acting as insulin‐binding proteins.…”

Xenotransplantation: an update on recent progress and future perspectives

“…Shortage of human pancreases available for whole organ or islet alloTx, has lead to search for xenogeneic sources of islets. As porcine insulin has been used successfully in diabetic patients for decades, and is very similar to human insulin, porcine islets have been chosen as the most suitable source [35,36]. However, porcine islet isolation still remains challenging and is one of the key issues for future clinical application [37].…”