A comparison of the effects of human and animal insulin as well as of the adverse reaction profile did not show clinically relevant differences. Many patient-oriented outcomes like health-related quality of life or diabetes complications and mortality were never investigated in high-quality randomised clinical trials. The story of the introduction of human insulin might be repeated by contemporary launching campaigns to introduce pharmaceutical and technological innovations that are not backed up by sufficient proof of their advantages and safety.
Treatment with human insulin (recombinant DNA) in diabetic subjects pretreated with pork or beef insulin: first results of a multicenter study.
In two double-blind studies 66 insulin-dependent diabetic subjects pretreated with pork insulin were changed to human insulin (recombinant DNA) or a purified pork insulin preparation (regular and NPH insulin). Sixty-five patients previously pretreated with beef insulin were transferred, in a randomized, double-blind fashion, to human insulin and purified beef insulin of the same preparations (regular and NPH insulin). Patients' metabolic control, as demonstrated by fasting and 1-h postprandial blood glucose, HbA1c, and daily insulin dosage, over 4 mo was unchanged in our four groups compared with the values before changing insulin preparation. No severe hypoglycemic attacks or skin reactions were reported.