Pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are discontinuing some of their insulin products. Our webpage About the changes to supply of insulin products summarises these changes and provides advanced notification about upcoming discontinuations.
In many cases, although one presentation of a product is discontinued, the medicine will remain available in a different presentation. For example, a vial presentation may be replaced by a prefilled pen or cartridge.
These are the products affected:
- Mixtard 30 Penfill (insulin human/isophane (NPH) insulin human 30/70)
- Fiasp vials (fast acting insulin aspart)
- Ryzodeg FlexTouch (insulin degludec + insulin aspart 70/30)
- Protaphane InnoLet (isophane (NPH) insulin human)
- Fiasp FlexTouch (fast acting insulin aspart)
- Humalog vial (insulin lispro)
- Humulin R vials (insulin)
- Humulin NPH vials (isophane insulin)
- Humulin 30/70 vials (biosynthetic human/neutral isophane insulin)
- Protaphane Penfill (isophane (NPH) insulin human)
- Levemir FlexPen & Penfill (insulin detemir)
- Actrapid Penfill (human insulin)
The sponsors have informed us that these discontinuations are part of a global strategy and are not related to product safety, quality or effectiveness.
We recognise the vital role of insulin for people with diabetes in Australia. We will work with the sponsor to minimise the impact of these discontinuations by providing early advice that includes alternative options, where available. The webpage also has links to fact sheets and other resources for patients and healthcare professionals.
Go to About the changes to supply of insulin products for more information.
Updated information will also be available in the Medicine Shortage Reports Database - search by the active ingredient ‘Insulin’ and filter by the ‘Discontinuations’ tab on the database homepage.