Narrative review: a rational approach to starting insulin therapy.

Background: The emergence of multiple insulin products has provided new opportunities to achieve diabetes control. However, the number of options has raised concerns about the optimal choices of products.

Purpose: To briefly review the pharmacologic characteristics of currently available insulin products and to suggest an initial insulin regimen based on common blood glucose profiles among patients with diabetes.

A critical appraisal of the role of insulin analogues in the management of diabetes mellitus.

Insulin is one of the oldest and best studied treatments for diabetes mellitus. Despite many improvements in the management of diabetes, the nonphysiological time-action profiles of conventional insulins remain a significant obstacle. However, the advent of recombinant DNA technology made it possible to overcome these limitations in the time-action profiles of conventional insulins.