I suspect they're not actually as good as the newer insulins.
"I am an endocrinologist working in the biopharmaceutical industry, and it surprises me that we still need to scapegoat drugs like insulin for high drug prices (“Injecting Some Insulin Reality,” Review & Outlook, April 6). Absent from the discussion is the dramatic improvements in marketed insulins over the past 25 years.
When we talk about modern insulin therapy, we aren’t talking about the old insulins. These agents required patients to carefully plan what they ate well before they did—they should rightly be cheap. Modern insulins allow patients better control of blood sugar and more flexibility. It takes large investments to develop medications. How much is it worth to not have to determine what you will put in your mouth 30 minutes prior to doing so? It is good those days are over."
— Coleman Gross, M.D. Letter to the Wall Street Journal, published there 14 April 2022.
"I am an endocrinologist working in the biopharmaceutical industry, and it surprises me that we still need to scapegoat drugs like insulin for high drug prices (“Injecting Some Insulin Reality,” Review & Outlook, April 6). Absent from the discussion is the dramatic improvements in marketed insulins over the past 25 years.
When we talk about modern insulin therapy, we aren’t talking about the old insulins. These agents required patients to carefully plan what they ate well before they did—they should rightly be cheap. Modern insulins allow patients better control of blood sugar and more flexibility. It takes large investments to develop medications. How much is it worth to not have to determine what you will put in your mouth 30 minutes prior to doing so? It is good those days are over."
— Coleman Gross, M.D. Letter to the Wall Street Journal, published there 14 April 2022.