FlexPen^® for the delivery of insulin: accuracy, injection force and patient preference

Abstract

FlexPen^® is a widely used, prefilled, insulin-delivery pen for patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Well-designed trials suggest that FlexPen is more accurate than other prefilled pens at high, medium and low doses. Furthermore, FlexPen is preferred to the vial-and-syringe method by patients, but comparisons of patient preference for modern pens are currently lacking. Next Generation FlexPen^® has similar accuracy to FlexPen but has improved patient perception. FlexPen improves adherence and reduces costs compared with the vial-and-syringe method, but the relative adherence and/or cost benefits of different pens are unknown. Important improvements in Next Generation FlexPen include: a significantly reduced injection force (that is lower than the injection force of other prefilled pens) and clearer labeling for insulin-type differentiation. Current evidence suggests that FlexPen and Next Generation FlexPen are an attractive choice when considering insulin-delivery methods.

Keywords::

• diabetes
• dose accuracy
• FlexPen^®
• insulin
• Next Generation FlexPen^®

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank all his collaborators at IKFE – Institute for Clinical Research and Development in Mainz, Germany, for their continuous past and ongoing commitment and support in performing clinical trials and other laboratory and technology research to improve the daily situation of patients with diabetes mellitus.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author is a consultant to Novo Nordisk A/S and part of the work of his laboratory referenced herein has been funded by a grant from Novo Nordisk A/S. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript. This publication was supported by Novo Nordisk A/S (Bagsværd, Denmark) with editorial support from ESP Bioscience (Sandhurst, UK).