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Warning: Lilly's Humalog lot 7RG49M potential problem

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Fernando Guzman

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Nov 24, 2003, 5:18:03 PM11/24/03
to
This is a WARNING about potential problems with Lilly Humalog lot
number 7RG49M

I am pump user, and fill my pump with Lilly's Humulog. I have been
doing this for more than 3 years without a problem until last
Saturday.

When I refilled my pump with insulin from a new vial my sugar reading
went sky high; aroung 450. After several hours of repeated attempts
to bring it down with large bolus amounts from the pump and
injections, it ocurred to me to check the lot number on the vial.
This vial had a different lot number from the one I had just finished,
and from the one I had unopened in my refrigerator. After taking an
injection from a vial with a different lot number, my sugar reading
started to go down, and they were normal after a couple of hours.

I have called Lilly to inform them about this. They said they will
file a report, and offered me a coupon for a free vial of Humalog. I
don't care about the coupon since my insurance pays for my insulin.
The one thing I was interested in, namely a recall, or at least a
warning to diabetics the refused to do.

Here is my recommendation. If you have a vial of Lilly's Humalog with
lot number 7RG49M be on guard for potential problems. If you see any
unusual behaviour, please post to this newsgroup and call Lilly.
Maybe after several phone calls they will take this seriously.

--
F.G.

Guy

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Nov 24, 2003, 7:15:14 PM11/24/03
to

I have checked mine. I had an experience where my
impression on reporting a bad drug was only a canned
reply. The legal issues are a big factor. If they are
open the lawyers will line up. I know of no way to get
info out than to report it here. My acquaintance that
made a killing on a class action suit complains the
Lawyers took 42% plus some other 2.5%.. Since
the surgery is not medical and done against reasonable
advice she deserved nothing. These games could
cost you dearly since the companies will be less helpful.
Why should they provide additional ammo for the ???.
Guy .

e

Flying Rat

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Nov 24, 2003, 8:56:08 PM11/24/03
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MuscleMan said this...
> If only novo-nordisk made Ultralente....
>
NovoNordisk's NPH is called Insulatard in the UK. Many people don't care
for it but I have got my best results from a twice-daily regime, with
NovoRapid as a bolus.

They have a new product due out soon, supposedly similar in its action
to Lantus but not as unpredictable or thermally unstable. Watch for
insulin detemir becoming available. FDA approval has been granted
subject to a number of final issues being resolved.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031008/phw020_1.html

Ratty
--

www.flyingrat.net

oldal4865

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Nov 24, 2003, 9:39:57 PM11/24/03
to

Flying Rat wrote in message ...

My reading on Detemir is that it has an absorbence profile more like
Ultralente than Lantus.

Folks may be able to get by with a 2-shot-per-day basal though I think a
3-shot-per-day would be more useful.

It will be called by a name which emphasizes its uniform activity in
preference to Detemir however.

Regards
Old Al


Bay Area Dave

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Nov 24, 2003, 10:16:20 PM11/24/03
to
Can you briefly explain why pumping didn't work for you?

How much insulin do you take per day?
what brand and model pump?
how long did you try it and what year.
do you count carbs and did you learn what your drop ratio and carb ratio
was?
How often do you test your bg's?

dave


MuscleMan wrote:

> On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 22:18:03 GMT, Fernando Guzman
> <f...@math.binghamton.edu> wrote:
>
>

>>This is a WARNING about potential problems with Lilly Humalog lot
>>number 7RG49M
>>
>>I am pump user, and fill my pump with Lilly's Humulog. I have been
>>doing this for more than 3 years without a problem until last
>>Saturday.
>>
>>When I refilled my pump with insulin from a new vial my sugar reading
>>went sky high; aroung 450. After several hours of repeated attempts
>>to bring it down with large bolus amounts from the pump and
>>injections, it ocurred to me to check the lot number on the vial.
>>This vial had a different lot number from the one I had just finished,
>>and from the one I had unopened in my refrigerator. After taking an
>>injection from a vial with a different lot number, my sugar reading
>>started to go down, and they were normal after a couple of hours.
>>
>
>
>

> this used to happen to me and other diabetics 10 years ago all of the
> time. We used to plan on 1 in 4 bottles being "dead", meaning can
> inject but no result.
>
> When I started using a pump, which was a fiasco for me, I used novo
> nordisk insulin, which came in a tall bottle and was known as
> velosulin. It worked really well. Although pumping didn't work for me,
> I never had a bad bottle of Novo.
>
> I recently had to throw out a botle of Humulin U and R, both were like
> injecting water, and the more I took the results were only
> incrementally better.
>
> I think Lilly sucks.
>
> I had a series of very bad insulin reactions 1993, in the fall at
> night between 2-4 i nthe morning. My father had to hold me down one
> night and punch me in the face to get me to open my mouth to pour soda
> in. I then went to an endo about it, and he explained that Lilly had
> sent a circular to all endos explaining they had changed the purity
> and action of Ultralente, so thatit could cause a drop in bg around
> 2-4 i nthe morning. The drop was to help with dawn phenomenon.
> I checked the insert and it never mentioned anything.If I'd known, I
> could have prepared or at least known what to do about it beforehand
> or recognize why the reaction were happening.
> But lilly didn't inform me, and it cost me and my insurance company a
> few hundred dollars to find out something they should have told me in
> the insert.
>
> If I had another alternative I'd gratefully take it. Lilly sounds like
> it's quality assurance program has gone out the window again. Guess
> I'll be paying the ridiculously inflated prices AND getting
> non-working insulin again.

Bay Area Dave

unread,
Nov 24, 2003, 10:19:02 PM11/24/03
to
Let's see...15 units times 10 is 150. that's how may basal shots my
pump gives me each day. One hundred and fify! No wonder I like pumping.

dave

Flying Rat

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Nov 24, 2003, 10:28:08 PM11/24/03
to
oldal4865 said this...

>
> Flying Rat wrote in message ...
> >MuscleMan said this...
> >> If only novo-nordisk made Ultralente....
> >>
> >NovoNordisk's NPH is called Insulatard in the UK. Many people don't care
> >for it but I have got my best results from a twice-daily regime, with
> >NovoRapid as a bolus.
> >
> >They have a new product due out soon, supposedly similar in its action
> >to Lantus but not as unpredictable or thermally unstable. Watch for
> >insulin detemir becoming available. FDA approval has been granted
> >subject to a number of final issues being resolved.
> >http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031008/phw020_1.html
> >
> >Ratty
>
> My reading on Detemir is that it has an absorbence profile more like
> Ultralente than Lantus.

"supposedly" being the point I made

>
> Folks may be able to get by with a 2-shot-per-day basal though I think a
> 3-shot-per-day would be more useful.

A 2pd basal is liveable with and not exactly a major imposition. There
was one copperplated loony here a while back that was doing Humalog, NPH
and Lantus all together!

Talk about overkill...

>
> It will be called by a name which emphasizes its uniform activity in
> preference to Detemir however.

Not seen any indications of a trademark/brand yet. But then again, the
US is the "Land of the Brand" and it's probably essential!

Marketing and NHS supply criteria here generally mean that branding is
superfluous unless there is only a named product available and not a
generic. Patients are prescribed from a pool and not expected to name
what they want as a result of advertising/branding exercises. To that
end advertising prescription drugs is illegal.

R
>
> Regards
> Old Al
>
>
>

--

www.flyingrat.net

William C Biggs, MD

unread,
Nov 25, 2003, 12:09:38 AM11/25/03
to
Al,

Levemir. (Level Detemir)

BTW, Aventis didn't use the name I proposed for their new fast acting
insulin. I suggested "Turbolog".

They chose Apidra.

I guess that is Pig Latin for Rapid. I liked Turbolog better, what does the
group think ?

And of course the new inhaled insulin is Exubera.

Somehow I now get companies asking me to rate new drug names. They typically
have me score 12 names for all kinds of parameters.....how hard is it to
understand verbally, is it too close to another similar name, does it mean
something pornographic in Swahili, how hard is it to write, etc. Then they
give me handwriting samples of various names asking if I can read them, and
what do they say. Then they have me write the names down in my handwriting,
probably to have other docs try to decipher my writing.

I have no idea how many docs they survey like this, but I can tell you about
70% of the names are pure trash and I wouldn't want to see them on a label.


WCB


"oldal4865" <olda...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bpufd8$1s184a$1...@ID-121441.news.uni-berlin.de...

George Eberhardt

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Nov 25, 2003, 7:15:12 AM11/25/03
to
"William C Biggs, MD" <POTMYF...@spammotel.com> wrote in message
news:7yBwb.2570$LV1.2355@okepread05...

> Al,
>
> Levemir. (Level Detemir)
>
> BTW, Aventis didn't use the name I proposed for their new fast acting
> insulin. I suggested "Turbolog".
>
> They chose Apidra.
>
> I guess that is Pig Latin for Rapid. I liked Turbolog better, what does
the
> group think ?
>

Of course Turbolog would be better for sales in English speaking countries,
but perhaps their prime market will be Italy <g>.

--
George Eberhardt
(732)224-8988

Fester

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Nov 25, 2003, 7:26:32 AM11/25/03
to

"George Eberhardt" <geber...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:As-dnTaNvbF...@comcast.com...
Sounds a little too close to "turbolax" for comfort ;)


Chris Jones

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Nov 25, 2003, 1:14:07 PM11/25/03
to
"William C Biggs, MD" <POTMYF...@spammotel.com> writes:

> BTW, Aventis didn't use the name I proposed for their new fast acting
> insulin. I suggested "Turbolog".
>
> They chose Apidra.
>
> I guess that is Pig Latin for Rapid. I liked Turbolog better, what does the
> group think ?

Is the final "a" in Apidra long? Until your "Pig Latin" comment (very
funny, IMO), I would have thought the pronunciation was uh-PID-ruh
(short u's).

I have an aversion to using "turbo" to mean fast; to me it means
spinning blades. It's a losing battle, I expect, but somehow that
hasn't stopped me before.

> Somehow I now get companies asking me to rate new drug names. They typically
> have me score 12 names for all kinds of parameters.....how hard is it to
> understand verbally, is it too close to another similar name, does it mean
> something pornographic in Swahili, how hard is it to write, etc. Then they
> give me handwriting samples of various names asking if I can read them, and
> what do they say. Then they have me write the names down in my handwriting,
> probably to have other docs try to decipher my writing.

A company I worked for once changed the name of one of their software
products because the short name for it in French (France being a large
market for them) was one of the 7 words you can't say on television.

> I have no idea how many docs they survey like this, but I can tell you about
> 70% of the names are pure trash and I wouldn't want to see them on a label.

Yes, it's astonished me that people get paid to come up with names and
often the names they come up with are awful. Ear (eye? hand?) of the
beholder, I guess.

oldal4865

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Nov 26, 2003, 9:00:48 AM11/26/03
to

MuscleMan wrote in message ...

>On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 03:16:20 GMT, Bay Area Dave <d...@nospam.com> wrote:
>
>>Can you briefly explain why pumping didn't work for you?
>>
>
>I couldn't get my insuli nset at the right basal levels to keep myself
>fro mhaving high blood sugars. Despite repeatedly going to an endo,
>with a HB1AC of 9.8 at one point, they stil lrefused to up my basal
>rates.
>
>I got so mad that I startd yelling, and they finally set all of my
>basals at.6, which was not helpful since it gave me a flat rate of .6
>all day. I later decided since I'd had better success and less highs
>and depression with ultralente, I'd ditch my pump and switch to
>shots-2 ultralente a day with a sliding scale for regular each time I
>ate.
>
>It worked too-my bg's stopped going oer 200 every time I stressed, and
>just did so when stress was high, and I stopped having to bolus
>all the time to drive my bg's down, which only lasts for the short
>term.
>I recently had my 2 times a day ultralente changed to 12 units each,
>rather than 9. that helped reduce a lot of my highs as well as enabled
>me to lift more when I worked out, which further helped control my
>stress and depression.
>
>The pump was a disaster. I had an h1-00 disetronic I sold to a man in
>florida for 300$. he said he lent it out to people who needed a temp
>pump before socialsecurity got them one. I hope it helped his clients.
>
>It sure as hell didn't help me.

We have a different approach to dosages. I started moving mine around
on my own "authority" on my second day on insulin. They didn't like that,
but they weren't about to follow me around all day with a baseball bat.

Regards
Old Al


Alan Mackenzie

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Nov 27, 2003, 3:23:02 AM11/27/03
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MuscleMan <st...@modempool.com> wrote on Mon, 24 Nov 2003 20:37:52 -0500:
> On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 22:18:03 GMT, Fernando Guzman
> <f...@math.binghamton.edu> wrote:

[ .... ]

> If I had another alternative I'd gratefully take it. Lilly sounds like
> it's quality assurance program has gone out the window again. Guess
> I'll be paying the ridiculously inflated prices AND getting non-working
> insulin again.

> If only novo-nordisk made Ultralente....

Novo-Nordisk does make Ultralente.

--
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)
Email: aa...@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter
(like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").

Vicki Beausoleil

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Nov 27, 2003, 1:23:43 PM11/27/03
to

Novo's UL isn't sold in the US. Too much competiton, I suppose.

It is available in Canada, however.

Back when my old cat was first diagnosed, I was still on Novolin R& NPH.
I put him on Novo's UL, but it was difficult to find, so I switched to
Lilly. A glucose curve revealed no difference in action *for him*
between the two. I've only used Lilly's UL.

Vicki

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