Latest insulin developments could knock down long-standing treatment barriers
In the past year-and-a-half, several new insulin products and delivery systems have come to market. Saturday’s “Insulin Therapy and Delivery Today and Tomorrow” session will examine how these new products have fared in real-world use and look into the future.
Evan Sisson, MSHA, CDE, FAADE
Moderator Evan Sisson, MSHA, CDE, FAADE, Associate Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, said that the session would focus on many of the new insulin products and delivery systems available.
“This is going to be a real opportunity to talk about how to overcome a lot of the barriers that we were faced with in years past,” he said.
Sisson will open with some background about treatment standardization thanks to guidelines from ADA and AACE.
Jill Schramm, DNP, FNP-C, BC-ADM, CDE
Jill Schramm, DNP, FNP-C, BC-ADM, CDE, Assistant Professor at Uniformed Services University, will talk about benefits of simple infusers. She said one of these once-a-day, disposable delivery systems has been approved for treating type 2 diabetes, more should be available soon.
A simple infuser offers some of the benefits seen with traditional insulin pumps. Simplifying insulin delivery for those with diabetes could make a big difference with insulin adherence since almost half of the people with type 2 diabetes are not at their hemoglobin A1C goal.
“A lot of times, it’s because they have so many barriers to their self care, so if we make their routines for taking their medications or insulin so complicated that it interferes with their life, then the chance of them being compliant with what we recommend long term is very low,” she said. “Devices such as this are designed to make it easier for them to do what their healthcare provider is recommending for better glycemic control.”
Nathan Painter, PharmD, CDE
Nathan Painter, PharmD, CDE, Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, will go over concentrated insulins such as Toujeo, U-500 and other products that could be available by the end of this year. He will discuss how these new products differ from older insulin products.
“Knowledge about all the latest products and concentrations increase patient safety and reduces the chance for dosing errors,” Painter said.
Lack of experience with the new products can happen anywhere in the health care chain.
Teresa Pearson, MS, RN, CDE, FAADE
Biolsimilars have grown in other areas of medicine, and now they’re starting to appear in the diabetes field. Teresa Pearson, MS, RN, CDE, FAADE, CEO of Innovative Health Care Designs, LLC and Editor-in-Chief of AADE In Practice, will explain the basics in this area, especially the class called follow-on biologics by the FDA.
Pearson wants to help attendees gain comfort with the terminology the FDA uses and the process these new drugs take for approval since these treatments will become more common in the coming years. She said practitioners such as herself always want to basics about any new treatment.
“Remember how anxious everybody was when generics first came on the market? And we’ve now become accustomed to generics now. This is really kind of the same thing,” she said.
William Guffey, PharmD, BCACP, CDE, BC-ADM, BCPS
William Guffey, PharmD, BCACP, CDE, BC-ADM, BCPS, Associate Director at the Carolinas HealthCare System/UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, will review the more traditional treatment options along with delivery systems.
“These will still have a place in therapy, and we’ll probably see a lot of patients being transitioned back and forth between the new agents and our traditional agents,” he said.
Pens continue to evolve into the standard for insulin delivery. Guffey will review the basic mechanisms of how pens work and what educators need to explain to those with diabetes to use the pens safely and effectively.
Saturday Session
Insulin Therapy and Delivery Today and Tomorrow
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm | Room 20A
