The U.S. FDA has issued an alert on 19 Marc 09 o remind the public that Insulin Pens and Insulin Cartridges Must Not Be Shared.

Originally, this alert was sent to health care professionals reminding them that single-patient insulin pens and insulin cartridges should not be used to administer medication to multiple patients due to the potential risk of transmitting blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and the hepatitis viruses. However, I felt that this is something all diabetic patients should be aware of, so that if it happend to them, they are also well aware of the risks.

What’s the rationale for this alert?
Well, insulin pens are pen-shaped injector devices that contain a disposable needle and either an insulin reservoir or an insulin cartridge. The devices typically contain enough insulin for a patient to self-administer several doses of insulin before the reservoir or cartridge is empty. All insulin pens are approved only for single-patient use (one device for only one patient).

Apparently, the FDA was aware of incidents at two undisclosed hospitals involving more than 2,000 people in which the cartridge component of the insulin pens were used to administer insulin to multiple patients, although the disposable needles were reportedly changed among patients.

“Insulin pens are designed to be safe for one patient to use one pen multiple times with a new, fresh needle for each injection,” said Amy Egan, M.D., deputy director of safety at the FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Insulin pens are not designed, and are not safe, for one pen to be used by more than one patient, even if needles are changed between patients due to the risk of transmitting blood-borne pathogens.”

Patients exposed to shared insulin pens are being contacted by the two hospitals and are being offered testing for hepatitis and HIV. Some of the potentially exposed patients have reportedly tested positive for the hepatitis C virus, although it is not known if the virus was spread as a result of insulin pen sharing.

The FDA is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and professional organizations to address infection control issues related to insulin pens.

For us, as Diabetes patients, please be aware of the risks of sharing insulin catridges. If you see it being done at health care centres, stop the staff immediately and report the incident to the FDA. Also, don’t share the catridges amongst family members. Better safe than sorry!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Obesity and related illnesses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.