Novo Nordisk is partnering with 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series driver Charlie Kimball to launch the educational program, Drive the Switch, encouraging diabetes patients who use insulin and caregivers to pledge to talk to their healthcare professional about options for insulin delivery, like the prefilled insulin pen device.
Nearly 90 years since the discovery of insulin, Americans still have not embraced more recent options in insulin delivery. In fact, the United States lags behind the rest of the world, with less than 20 percent of people with diabetes using a prefilled insulin pen to inject their insulin. In other parts of the world, pen usage is as high as 85 percent, according to a 2008 survey.
For each person who pledges, Novo Nordisk will make a donation to Diabetes Hands Foundation up to a total of $10,000. Patients and caregivers will be able to pledge online by visiting www.DrivetheSwitch.com. Website visitors will also be able to see how many people have pledged, identify locations where Charlie and his car will appear throughout the 2011 season and learn about Novo Nordisk treatment options.
This sounds like marketing over utility. The reality is that insulin pump therapy among patients with type 1 diabetes in the U.S. is much significantly more prevalent than it is in Europe where pens are common, but to call that less advanced than pens is a bit of wishful thinking. Novo dominates the European market largely because of pen devices, but they struggle more in the U.S. where pump users buy insulin by the via to fill pump reservoirs, so the company does not have quite the same loyalty among users in the U.S. as they enjoy in Europe. Nice… Read more »