Intro - diabetic cat mom

[Jean Iwinski]

Hi all. I have a 14 year old cat that was diagnosed almost two years ago with diabetes. He is currently on 3 units of Lantus 2x a day. I am VERY interested in following the possibility of "once weekly" injections for cats. I understand once a cat is on insulin they cannot go on Bexacat or Senvelgo. I recently came across some possible info on once weekly insulin.

There was a successful study published back a few years from UC Davis. Dechra Pharma purchased the patent for the once weekly insulin. I believe they are headquartered in the UK. The only other thing I came across was that the University of Florida was recruiting feline participation for their study on once weekly insulin. I really hope some med is developed to help our cats!

Does anyone know more?

 

[CORKY]

Hi all. I have a 14 year old cat that was diagnosed almost two years ago with diabetes. He is currently on 3 units of Lantus 2x a day. I am VERY interested in following the possibility of "once weekly" injections for cats. I understand once a cat is on insulin they cannot go on Bexacat or Senvelgo. I recently came across some possible info on once weekly insulin.

There was a successful study published back a few years from UC Davis. Dechra Pharma purchased the patent for the once weekly insulin. I believe they are headquartered in the UK. The only other thing I came across was that the University of Florida was recruiting feline participation for their study on once weekly insulin. I really hope some med is developed to help our cats!

Does anyone know more?

Welcome to FDF, I am tagging members that can help you with Lantus, and dosing
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Suzanne & Darcy
@Bron and Sheba (GA)

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I believe that the study you are referring to was published in 2021. They had a sample of 5 cats and the cats were trialed on this ultra-long form of insulin, AK267c, for only 7 weeks. There was no mention of any follow up study and there was a warning about the risk for ketoacidosis increasing as a cat was approaching euglycemia (i.e., more normal blood glucose numbers).

So, what's that mean in practical terms? The bottom line is that this is a report on a VERY preliminary use of a new, long lasting type of insulin. Reporting on 5 cats is interesting, but this insulin has not been used in a large scale clinical trial and there's no way to know if it's safe or ultimately, whether it's effective especially over a long period of time. Five cats getting a new drug for seven weeks would not pass any guideline for the insulin being approved for widespread use. I suspect that it will be a long time before this insulin sees the light of day given where they are in the clinical trial process.

The other issue to consider is what happens to a cat that's prescribed an ultra-long type of insulin if the cat becomes hypoglycemic. Symptoms could persist for quite some time and could pose a significant risk to the cat.