 NOVOPEN |
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Body category With hundreds of millions of people living with diabetes, NovoPen answers a need for treatment.INJECTION WITH DISCRETIONMore than 250 million people worldwide in 2009 are affected by diabetes – and by 2025 this disease is expected to affect 380 million, according to the International Diabetes Federation, based in Brussels. Daily injections are considered indiscreet by many diabetics and four daily doses of insulin using disposable vials and syringes are a hassle to self-administer. An injection pen developed by Novo Nordisk eases these problems and improves the everyday lives of diabetics. By eliminating the embarrassment and inconvenience often associated with diabetes, NovoPen helps diabetics lead more normal lives. Almost 30 years ago, Novo Nordisk began the development of the first NovoPen. The Danish pharmaceutical company had at this time developed a new type of insulin called "human insulin," recognizing that the treatment of diabetes was much more effective when the body received four daily injections instead of just one. These more frequent daily injections created a new burden for diabetics, which was described in an article in the Lancet in 1981. User-driven innovationIn the Lancet article, a young English girl explained how she filled a disposable syringe with insulin every morning with enough to last the whole day, in order to avoid refilling the syringe during the course of the day. She had always felt that it was awkward and indiscreet to administer these doses of insulin from a vial using a disposable syringe, and therefore asked an English company to develop a dosing tool. As this story came to the attention of the marketing director of Novo Nordisk, it inspired the development of the first NovoPen. The shape and design of NovoPen is like that of a common fountain pen – the user feels more comfortable working with it than with something that looks overtly like a the medical device it is. The pen makes it easy for the user to select the required dose, to place and remove the needle and to inject the insulin. After use, the NovoPen converts quickly into a pen-like cylinder, which can be carried discreetly in a handbag or pocket. The NovoPen has undergone several improvements over the past 30 years, with NovoPen 4 the most recent addition in 2004. The design has gained widespread attention and has attained several prizes for design and function. Novo Nordisk reports that today more than 3.5 million diabetics worldwide benefit from the safe and reliable injections of NovoPen.
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