New study shows that NovoMix 30 is effective for type 2 diabetes patients who are to start on insulin

Oct 3 2009

Data from a new study presented today at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) shows that type 2 diabetes patients starting insulin treatment with once-daily injection of NovoMix^® 30 (biphasic insulin aspart) achieve a significantly greater HbA_1c reduction compared to patients starting with a daily injection of insulin glargine. Treatment with NovoMix^® 30 also resulted in significantly lower blood glucose levels after dinner and at bedtime, as compared to insulin glargine.

The new data is from the OnceMix study, which included 480 type 2 diabetes patients in 15 countries who were inadequately controlled with oral antidiabetic drugs. They were randomised to treatment with one daily injection of either NovoMix^® 30 or insulin glargine. A total of 433 completed the study. Mean reduction in HbA_1c from baseline to study completion at 26 weeks was -1.41% with NovoMix^® 30 and -1.25% with insulin glargine.

“The study shows that NovoMix^® 30 is a very effective option for type 2 diabetes patients who are to start on insulin,” said Professor Krzysztof Strojek from the Silesian Medical University in Zabrze, Poland, and lead author of the study. “An additional benefit of using a premixed insulin like NovoMix^® 30 from the start is that it is easy to intensify the treatment as diabetes progresses, which is both convenient for the patient and important for the long-term control of the disease.”

At the end of treatment, mean HbA_1c was 7.08% for NovoMix^® 30 and 7.23% for insulin glargine. When assessing postprandial glucose control, significantly lower plasma glucose levels were observed with NovoMix^® 30 after dinner and at bedtime (NovoMix^® 30 – insulin glargine = -0.52 mmol/l, 95% CI [-1.02; -0.03], p = 0.04) and (NovoMix^® 30 – insulin glargine = -0.78 mmol/l, 95% CI [-1.25; -0.31], p <0.01) respectively.

The incidence of hypoglycaemic episodes was very low with both treatments (6.5 episodes/year for NovoMix^® 30 and 4.8 episodes/year for insulin glargine, with three major hypoglycaemic episodes in each group) and the final daily dose was also low and similar with both NovoMix^® 30 and glargine (0.32+/-0.22 units/kg for NovoMix^® 30 and 0.29+/-0.19 units/kg for insulin glargine).

No clinically relevant differences between treatment groups were observed in cardiovascular risk markers, waist circumference, body weight or treatment satisfaction.