Insulin (rapid acting)
Status
FDA-approved. FDA-approved labeling exists for rapid-acting insulin analogues for the improvement of glycaemic control in diabetes mellitus. Labels carry extensive warnings on hypoglycaemia as the most common and most serious adverse reaction, on hypokalaemia, and on the danger of errors in dose or product substitution.
What it is
A prescribed hormone with a narrow margin, requiring clinical supervision.
What published research measured
Rapid-acting insulin analogues are among the most rigorously studied medicines in existence, with decades of randomized trials establishing glycaemic efficacy in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The literature relevant to this library is the safety literature rather than the efficacy literature. Insulin has no ceiling effect and a narrow margin: severe hypoglycaemia is the dose-limiting toxicity, it can progress to seizure, coma and death, and it can do so within an hour with rapid-acting analogues. The risk is substantially higher in people without diabetes, who have no elevated baseline glucose to absorb the effect, and higher again when combined with fasting, alcohol or exercise. Use outside diabetes management carries a documented history of fatalities.
Source
FDA labeling for rapid-acting insulin analogues
Sources
No linked primary source is on file for this entry yet.
Educational use only, never medical advice. No doses.