Insulin

Types of Insulin

There are many different types of insulin available, as an injectable through a needle, pen, patch, or pump. There is also an inhalable form of insulin.

Insulin requires a prescription. Your healthcare provider will use factors such as age, lifestyle, and risk factors help determine the appropriate dosage and version of insulin that’s right for you.

Rapid-Acting Insulin

Rapid-acting insulin is used before a meal to prevent your blood glucose from rising, and to correct high blood sugars. It can be used with a longer-acting insulin.

Types of rapid-acting insulin include:

• Lispro Humalog (Lilly)
• Admelog (Sanofi)
• Lyumjev (Lilly)
• Novolog (Novo Nordisk)
• Fiasp (Novo Nordisk)
• Apidra (Sanofi-Aventis)

Regular Insulin or Short-Acting Insulin

Types of regular insulin include:

• Humulin R (Lilly)
• Novolin R (Novo Nordisk)

Intermediate-Acting Insulin

Types of intermediate-acting insulin include:

• Humulin N (Lilly)
• Novolin N (Novo Nordisk)

Long-Acting Insulin

Types of long-acting insulin include:

• Levemir (Novo Nordisk)
• Lantus (Sanofi-Aventis)
• Basaglar (Lilly)
• Semglee (Viatris)

Ultra-Long-Acting Insulin

The key difference between long-acting insulin and ultra-long-acting insulin is that ultra-long-acting insulin has no peak. This means there is no point in time where there is a maximum effect of insulin in your body, which reduces your risk of having low blood glucose (hypoglycemia). This medication can last up to 36 hours.

Inhaled Insulin

There is one available inhaled insulin: