Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment
Record Status
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.
Citation
Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment. Insulin detemir for diabetes mellitus. Ottawa: Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment (CCOHTA) 2004
Authors' objectives
To summarize the available information on the use of insulin detemir (Trade Name: Levemir, manufactured by Novo Nordisk) for the management of type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus (DM) and type 2 (non-insulin dependent) DM.
Authors' conclusions
Insulin detemir is a new long-acting insulin analogue for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 DM. It does not improve HbA1c control or reduce overall hypoglycemic events in most trials that compare it to NPH insulin. It may be advantageous for those who experience nocturnal hypoglycemia or weight gain with NPH insulin. The one trial that compared this insulin to insulin glargine (a new long-acting insulin that has been approved by Health Canada but is not yet marketed) did not measure or report on clinical outcomes. It is impossible to make a clinical comparison between these two long-acting products. More published research is needed to clarify insulin detemir's place in therapy.