Tresiba Basal Insulin to Launch in Canada in October 2017

By Jeemin Kwon

Health Canada has approved the once-daily insulin for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Tresiba has been approved by Health Canada and will be launched in October 2017. This means the next-gen, once-daily basal insulin will finally be available for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Canada, in addition to its availability in other places around the globe.  As of yet, we haven’t heard information about pricing and access for Tresiba in Canada.

Compared to other basal insulins, Tresiba has several advantages. It offers the convenience of flexible dosing, meaning it does not have to be taken at the exact same time every day. Tresiba is considered a “true” once-daily insulin, given its very steady blood-sugar-lowering effect. (While previous basal insulins like Lantus and Levemir can be taken once a day, many people find they don’t consistently last a full 24 hours.)

Tresiba has also been associated with lower risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and severe hypoglycemia compared to Lantus (insulin glargine).

• In the SWITCH 1 and 2 trials, Tresiba cut risk for symptomatic hypoglycemia by 11% for people with type 1 diabetes and 30% for people with type 2 diabetes

• In the DEVOTE trial, Tresiba cut the risk for severe hypoglycemia by 40% compared to Lantus for people with type 2 diabetes

The FDA is currently evaluating these trial results to decide if Tresiba should have hypoglycemia risk reduction on its drug label.