NovoNordisk president ‘not worried about generic insulin’

Martin Soeters, the US president of insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk, has said he is not worried about the arrival of generic insulin products because the new proprietary insulin products are so much more advanced.

He told Reuters that he expected generic insulin to appear on the market at some point in 2008 or 2009, but added that human insulin by then would only account for 15 per cent of the market because new insulin analogues are far superior.

Mr Soeters stated: “The new generation of insulins are so clearly superior and there is such a change in doctor and patient attitude toward it that they will not go back.”

“[In 2009] there is hardly a medical need anymore because the majority of patients will be switched to the insulin analogues, which clearly show superiority in different criteria,” he added.

Analogue insulin differs from human insulin as it produced synthetically and can be designed so that it is absorbed very quickly or over extended periods of time.

NovoRapid, NovoNordisk’s insulin analogue available in the UK, is faster-acting than soluble insulin because it been designed so that the molecules of the drug do not bind together so much, meaning that it can be absorbed into the bloodstream more quickly.

Fast-acting insulin analogues may be more convenient for some patients as they can be taken immediately before a meal, or even afterwards.

NovoNordisk employs 22,007 people, of which 266 are based in the UK at Crawley, West Sussex.

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