June 5, 2018, Beijing – Novo Nordisk announced the NovoPen Echo Plus®Approved in China. NovoPen® Easypen®It is an insulin injection pen that features both a memory function and a minimum injection dose of 0.5 units, meeting the need for precise insulin administration in pediatric patients with diabetes. It helps children and their families better manage diabetes, significantly improving the safety and efficacy of insulin injections.
The Situation of Diabetes Among Children and Adolescents in China Is Severe, with Increasingly Apparent Unmet Needs
Epidemiological survey data indicate that over the past 20 years, 90% of children and adolescents with diabetes in China had type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), with the incidence of T1DM among children under 15 years of age increasing nearly fourfold.1Notably, with the continuous improvement in living standards, the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in China is increasingly shifting toward younger ages, with a significant rise in incidence among children and adolescents. Obesity and unhealthy lifestyles are important contributors to this trend.
Due to their smaller body size compared to adults, children and adolescents often require strict adjustment of insulin injection doses based on age, body weight, and blood glucose levels, with a precision of 0.5 units. Accurate dosing helps achieve optimal blood glucose control while minimizing the risk of hypoglycemic events. The Chinese Guidelines for Insulin Therapy in Type 1 Diabetes (2016 Edition) state that insulin therapy is one of the primary treatment modalities for children and adolescents with diabetes. The guidelines recommend that the initial insulin dose for children and adolescents should start at 0.4–0.5 U/kg.2. However, insulin injection pens currently available on the Chinese market often fail to fully meet the needs of pediatric and adolescent patients, lacking 0.5-unit dose increments or memory functions, which results in suboptimal glycemic control and leads to non-negligible instances of missed or duplicate insulin injections.
NovoPen® Echo®—— Meeting the precise injection needs of pediatric patients with diabetes
An open-label, multicenter, multinational observational study involving 48 research institutions from Canada, Finland, Israel, Sweden, and other countries showed that the use of NovoPen Echo®At 12–18 weeks, the proportion of children performing self-injections increased significantly, while the rates of missed injections and usage-related issues generally decreased; over 97% of patients and physicians reported that its memory function was easier to master.3. The accompanying pen-body skin stickers help pediatric and adolescent patients accurately distinguish between different injection devices, thereby not only improving medication adherence in pediatric patients but also effectively reducing the risk of medication errors.
Ms. Zhou Xiaping, Senior Vice President of Novo Nordisk and President of Greater China, spoke about the NovoPen® EasyChild®stated, “Novo Nordisk has always adhered to the ‘patient-centric’ philosophy. We are very pleased to bring NovoPen Echo Plus®“By introducing this product to the Chinese market, we hope that cutting-edge technology will help enhance the diversity and quality of diagnosis and treatment in China’s diabetes care landscape, enabling children and adolescents with diabetes in China to receive better treatment and easily enjoy health and the happy life that should rightfully be theirs. As a mother, I deeply understand the profound love parents have for their children. We also hope our product will bring less worry and greater peace of mind to the families of affected children.”
References:
1. The China National Study on Type 1 Diabetes in the Entire Population is the first nationwide study to investigate the incidence characteristics and patterns of type 1 diabetes across all age groups, recently published in The BMJ (British Medical Journal)
2. In the “Chinese Guidelines for Insulin Therapy in Type 1 Diabetes” (2016 Edition) and the “Chinese Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents” (2017 Edition), the preferred treatment regimen for T1DM is “basal-plus-mealtime insulin therapy,” and the treatment of T2DM in children and adolescents also includes “insulin injection” regimens.
3 Adolfsson P, et al. Curr Med Res Opin 2012 Sep;28(9):1455-63