Some older diabetes insulin pens taken off market

The pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis has announced the withdrawal of some of the older older insulin pens they manufacture for people suffering from type 2 diabetes. The insulin pen devices in questio, OptiSet, OptiClik and OptiPen Pro 1, will no longer be available from the end of this year, as many of the older devices are being phased out.
For patients who currently still use these types of pe, they are being recommended to check with the doctor or diabetes clinic about switching over to a different pen to ensure they are able to continue taking their insulin. The changeover will mean that there will be just two pen devices from Sanofi-Aventis available, ClikSTAR and SoloSTAR.
The national charity Diabetes UK is working to alert all those diabetics involved to make sure they are aware of the change, and that only those two devices will be available from Sanofi-Aventis for injecting insulin from December 31, 2011.
Cathy Moulto, who is clinical advisor at Diabetes UK, commented “All healthcare teams have been notified of the withdrawals and so will be able to help with any changes needed. We would advise anyone who has concerns to contact the Sanofi-Aventis 24 hour helpline on 0845 606 6887 on how best to make any adjustments.”