Healthcare professional and patient assessment of a new prefilled insulin pen versus two widely available prefilled insulin pens for ease of use, teaching and learning

Abstract

Objective:

FlexTouch (FT) is a new prefilled insulin pen with no push-button extension at any set dose and a low activation force that is designed to improve ease of use and insulin administration. This paper reports the results of two usability studies assessing perceptions of FT compared with KwikPen (KP)and SoloStar (SS) among healthcare professionals (HCPs; both physicians and nurses) and people with diabetes (both insulin pen-experienced and insulin pen-naïve).

*FlexTouch is a registered trade name of Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark.

†KwikPen is a registered trade name of Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis, IN, USA.

‡SoloStar is a registered trade name of Sanofi, Paris, France.

Research design and methods:

Participants were randomly assigned to start with FT or KP in one study and FT or SS in the other. Participants performed injections at different doses (20, 40 and 60 International Units [IU] in the FT vs. KP study or 20, 40 and 80 IU in the FT vs. SS study) into a foam cushion before answering questions on ease of use, teaching and learning, confidence and preference.

Results:

A total of 59 people with diabetes and 61 HCPs took part in the FT vs. SS study, and 79 people with diabetes and 81 HCPs took part in the FT vs. KP study. Considerably more patients and HCPs rated FT as very/fairly easy to inject with than KP or SS, particularly at the maximum dose (≥80% vs. ≤38% and ≤23%, respectively), and more were very/rather confident in the ability to manage daily insulin injections with FT than KP or SS. Overall, FT was rated significantly higher for ease of teaching and learning to use than KP or SS (all p < 0.001 vs. FT), and was preferred for teaching and learning compared with KP or SS (≥39% vs. ≤4% and ≤6%, respectively). More patients and HCPs would recommend FT (≥95%) than KP (≤72%) or SS (≤71%). The same pattern was generally seen across physicians, nurses, insulin pen-experienced and pen-naïve participants.

Conclusions:

The findings suggest that devices such as FT are easy to use and can be prescribed with relatively few training needs, which may improve ease of insulin initiation, increase pen use, and ultimately improve treatment adherence. A limitation of the usability questionnaire used in this study is that it did not assess the factors that influence preference. Further analyses could be conducted to determine the factors that appeal to different users.

Keywords::

• Diabetes
• Healthcare professionals
• Learning
• Preference
• Prefilled insulin pen
• Teaching
• Usability

Transparency

Declaration of funding

The studies and preparation of this article were funded by Novo Nordisk A/S (Bagsvaerd, Denmark).

Declaration of financial/other relationships

D.A.N. is on the speakers’ bureau for Novo Nordisk, Inc., Eli Lilly, Abbott, and Warner Chilcott, and has been on an advisory board for Novo Nordisk, Inc. C.C. has served on advisory boards for Novo Nordisk, Inc. and has recently become a national speaker for them. T.B. has received consulting honoraria from Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and Novo Nordisk and speaking honoraria from Amylin, Novo Nordisk, Becton-Dickinson and Sanofi-Aventis. He has received research support from Animas, Bayer, BD, Biodel, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corcept, Bristol Myers Squibb, Dexcom, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Halozyme, Lifescan, Lilly, Medtronic, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Resmed, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and Xoma. M.N. is an employee of Novo Nordisk A/S.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Richard Rubin and Mark Peyrot for their helpful input to the analysis of the data and the manuscript outline. Editorial support for this article was provided by Nicole Meinel at ESP Bioscience (Crowthorne, UK), funded by Novo Nordisk A/S. The studies were managed and performed, and data were analyzed, by Aequus Research (London, UK), funded by Novo Nordisk A/S.

CMRO peer reviewers have received honoraria for their work on this paper, and have declared any relevant financial relationships to the Editors.

Notes

*FlexTouch is a registered trade name of Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark.

†KwikPen is a registered trade name of Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis, IN, USA.

‡SoloStar is a registered trade name of Sanofi, Paris, France.

*FlexTouch is a registered trade name of Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark.

†KwikPen is a registered trade name of Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis, IN, USA.

‡SoloStar is a registered trade name of Sanofi, Paris, France.

*FlexPen is a registered trade name of Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark.