Humalog Junior KwikPen [insulin lispro injection 100 units/mL] is now available by prescription for the treatment of diabetes in the US This innovation is the latest in the treatment and delivery options Eli Lilly and Company  offers for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Humalog Junior KwikPen is the only prefilled, disposable half-unit insulin pen.

In June 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Humalog Junior KwikPen for the treatment of diabetes. In September 2017, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued a positive opinion for Humalog Junior KwikPen in the European Union and is pending final approval, expected later this year.

"Learning how to inject insulin can be overwhelming, especially for newly diagnosed children and their caregivers. People often feel shock and anxiety, and may struggle with the reality of fitting diabetes into daily life," said Sherry Martin, M.D., vice president, Global Medical Affairs, Lilly Diabetes. "We hope to help take away some of the worries about the injection process with Humalog Junior KwikPen. Because it is prefilled, there are fewer steps for people to learn, and the half-unit increments make dosing more precise."

Humalog Junior KwikPen, which is lighter and shorter than other half-unit insulin pens, provides an option for people who prefer a prefilled pen and need the precision of half-unit dosing, such as those with insulin sensitivity and some older adults for whom rounding to the nearest whole-unit dose is not adequate.

Until now, the only way to deliver half units of insulin with a pen was through a reusable pen, which requires users to remove and load cartridges. Humalog Junior KwikPen offers fine-tuned dosing in a convenient prefilled disposable pen.

Humalog Junior KwikPen enables finer dose adjustment (0.5 vs 1 unit dose increments) for people who take relatively small doses (=30 units at mealtimes) of Humalog U-100 (insulin lispro injection 100 units/mL). The design of Humalog KwikPen meets or exceeds the requirements and standards for needle-based injections set by the International Organization for Standardization.