Eli Lilly and Company today announced the availability of a smaller insulin vial, the first in the United States containing 3 mL (300 units) of insulin, for people with diabetes being treated in a hospital.
The new smaller vial - for Lilly's Humalog® (insulin lispro injection [rDNA origin]) and Humulin® R-U100 (regular insulin human injection, USP [rDNA origin)]) - is intended to provide hospitals more flexibility when evaluating insulin storage, delivery and distribution options.
A typical vial of insulin contains 10 mL, or 1,000 "units" of insulin. Based on customer feedback and the average length of stay in the hospital for patients with diabetes, Lilly developed this new option to help meet the needs of hospital customers.
Lilly will begin providing the new smaller vial to hospitals in January 2010. The company will also continue to provide the traditional 10 mL insulin vial, as well as additional delivery options for hospital patients, including Humalog® KwikPen(TM), a pen injection device that comes prefilled with Humalog insulin, and the original Humalog prefilled pen.
"Lilly is committed to providing solutions for the ever-changing needs of our hospital customers and patients receiving care in the hospital. This new 'small vial' is another example of a tool Lilly is delivering to our customers to help provide solutions for the complexities of treating the epidemic of diabetes here in the U.S.," said Matt Beebe, Lilly's U.S. insulin brand team leader. "Partnering with our institutional customers, we believe hospitals will find it to be a valuable option when evaluating their insulin storage, delivery and distribution needs."