Table of commonly used insulins available in the UK

Posted on September 15, 2009

Table of commonly used insulins available in the UK Note: -
The usual action times for the insulins described will vary slightly from person to person.

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Table of commonly used insulins available in the UK (PDF 30k)
Table of commonly used insulins available in the UK (Word 33k)

Type of Insulin (Trade Names)	Manufacturer	Appearance	Starts Working	Peak of Activity	Duration Approx
Rapid Acting Human Insulin Analogues
NovoRapid® (insulin aspart)	Novo Nordisk	Clear	10 – 15 mins	30 – 120 mins	4 – 5 hrs
Apidra® (insulin glulisine)	Sanofi Aventis	Clear	10 – 15 mins	30 – 120 mins	4 – 5 hrs
Humalog® (insulin lispro)	Eli Lilly	Clear	10 – 15 mins	30 – 120 mins	4 – 5 hrs
Short Acting Soluble Insulin (regular)
(Humulin S, Actrapid, Velosulin®)	Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk	Clear	30 mins	2 – 4 hrs	4 – 8 hrs
Intermediate Acting
NPH (Insulatard®)	Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk	Cloudy	2 – 4 hrs	6 – 8 hrs	12 – 15 hrs
Long Acting Insulin Analogues
Levemir® (insulin detemir)	Novo Nordisk	Clear	1 – 2 hrs	2 – 12 hrs (mild, varies by dose)	18 – 24 hrs (varies by dose)
Lantus® (insulin glargine)	Aventis	Clear	4 – 6 hrs	No peak	18- 24+ hrs
Pre-Mixed (Biphasic) (Action Varies)
Mixtard 30® NPH/Actrapid 30/70	Novo Nordisk	Cloudy	30 mins	Varies	18 – 24 hrs
Humalog Mix® 25/75	Eli Lilly	Cloudy	10-15 mins	Varies	12 – 15 hrs
NovoMix® 30/70	Novo Nordisk	Cloudy	10-15 mins	Varies	10 – 12 hrs
Animal Insulins
Hypurin® porcine and bovine insulin will continue to be available for the foreseeable future. Made by Wockhardt UK

There are many different regimens. One of the most common (in the UK) for people to be started on, is Mixtard 30 given twice a day (morning and teatime). which is 30% short acting soluble insulin (Actrapid type) mixed with 70% of NPH (Isophane Insulin). Novomix 30 is 30% of fast acting insulin analogue and 70% intermediate acting insulin (NPH).

New, modern insulin regimens consists of multiple injections of Short acting insulin with meal and or large snacks and 1 or 2 injections of long acting insulin, or biphasic insulin (like NovoMix or Humalog mix 25 or Novomix or Mixtard 30).

Here are some regimens explained
Please note it mentions different “strengths/proportions of short acting insulin” of Mixtard i.e Mixtard 20, 40, 50. These have been discontinued and you can now only obtain Mixtard 30