Human insulin

Preview

Human insulin differs in molecular structure from beef and pork insulin, and these differences, although slight, may contribute to the decreased immunogenicity of human insulin. While this is its foremost benefit, human insulin has a number of other advantages over animal-derived insulins. In this article, Drs Ahrens, Gossain, and Rovner review these advantages as well as sources of human insulin and clinical indications for its use. With these benefits in mind and the expected decrease in cost, the authors recommend that human insulin be considered for use in all newly diagnosed patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.