International studies published last week linked a very widely used synthetic insulin to increased risk of cancer. But millions of Indian diabetes patients who use the drug have reason to be relieved after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — and other regulatory authorities across the world — have decided to review the safety of the drug but have urged patients not to stop treatment.

In a statement earlier this week, the FDA restrained from giving the drug a clean chit but allayed fears. “(The agency) is not concluding that there is no causal relationship between the drug product and emerging safety issue. Nor does it mean that FDA is advising health care professionals to discontinue prescribing the product,” the FDA said. It is investigating the case.

India has a 45-million diabetic population and is considered to be the global epicentre of the disease. Insulin glargine is approved to control blood glucose in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. According to doctors in India, the drug is used by at least 30 per cent of patients with Type I diabetes and by about 70 per cent with Type II.

Diabetics across the world were alarmed after the prestigious Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), reported in its June 30 issue studies linking the drug to cancer risk. According to the EASD, analysis of 127,000 insulin-treated patients reported a statistically significant link between cancer and Insulin Glargine use compared with those using similar doses of human insulin. Among those receiving Glargine, there was an increase of 1 person with cancer for every 100 people receiving human insulin.

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