Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the long-acting insulin analog glargine after 1 week of use compared with its first administration in subjects with type 1 diabetes.

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the long-acting insulin analog glargine (1) are superior to those of insulin NPH (2–9). In the clinical setting, this translates into lower risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia (10–13), lower A1C (provided that appropriate requirements of mealtime rapid-acting insulin are met) (11–13), and the convenience of once (12), compared with multiple, administration of NPH (14). However, no study has examined subjects after several days of its use versus the “first” subcutaneous injection. The present studies were undertaken to establish the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of insulin glargine in type 1 diabetes after 1 week of its oncedaily use and to compare it with those observed after the first injection.