Pharmacology and Formulations of Insulin

PHARMACOLOGY AND FORMULATIONS

Normal insulin secretion in the nondiabetic person falls into two categories: (i) insulin that is secreted in response to a meal and (ii) the background or basal insulin that is continually secreted between meals and during the nighttime hours. The pancreatic response to a meal typically results in peak serum insulin levels of 60–80 mU/mL whereas basal serum insulin levels fall within the 5–15 mU/mL range (Galloway and Chance, 1994). Because of these vastly different insulin demands, considerable effort has been ex-pended to develop insulin formulations that meet the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic require-ments of each condition. More recently, insulin analogs and insulin analog formulations have been developed to improve pharmacokinetic and pharma-codynamic properties.