Eli Lilly and Company has announced the availability of a smaller insulin vial containing 3ml of insulin, for people with diabetes being treated in a hospital, in the US.
The new smaller vial – for the comapny’s Humalog and Humulin R-U100 – is intended to provide hospitals more flexibility when evaluating insulin storage, delivery and distribution options.

Lilly will begin providing the new smaller vial to hospitals in January 2010. The company will also continue to provide the traditional 10ml insulin vial, as well as additional delivery options for hospital patients, including Humalog KwikPen, a pen injection device that comes prefilled with Humalog insulin, and the original Humalog prefilled pen.

Matt Beebe, Lilly’s US insulin brand team leader, said: "Lilly is committed to providing solutions for the ever-changing needs of our hospital customers and patients receiving care in the hospital. This new ‘small vial’ is another example of a tool Lilly is delivering to our customers to help provide solutions for the complexities of treating the epidemic of diabetes here in the US."

Datamonitor: Commercial Insight: Antidiabetics – DPP-IV inhibitors poised to sweep the market