Once-weekly insulin jab just as good as daily injections, trials find

Library image. Credit: Getty/agrobacter

By Storm Newton, PA Media

A new class of insulin taken once a week could be just as effective for managing blood sugar in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes as daily injections, according to trials.

Reducing jabs “could lessen the burden” for people with the conditions, experts said, although one study found there were higher rates of low blood sugar among type 1 diabetics.

Researchers suggested “additional evaluation” should be made when starting these patients on the drug, and while deciding on their optimal dose.

Findings from two US trials of efsitora, developed by pharma company Eli Lilly, have been presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Madrid.

Both explored the drug’s effectiveness when compared to standard insulin, also known as degludec.

A phase 3 trial led by Dr Richard Bergenstal, of the International Diabetes Center, HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis, included 343 patients with type 1 diabetes on efsitora and 349 on degludec.