Three insulin products by Novo Nordisk will be discontinued

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is aware of these discontinuations and has already issued Medicines Supply Notifications to healthcare professionals for some of them.

• NovoRapid FlexTouch is being discontinued in March 2025
  An alternative to NovoRapid FlexTouch 3ml prefilled pens, is that both NovoRapid FlexPen 100units/ml 3ml pre-filled pens and NovoRapid Penfill 100unit/ml 3ml cartridges remain available and can support the increase in demand.
  There is also an alternative insulin (known as a biosimilar insulin) to NovoRapid called Trurapi, which is made by manufacturer Sanofi. Trurapi SoloStar 100units/ml 3ml pre-filled pens and Trurapi 100unit/ml 3ml Penfill (cartridges) are also available and again can support an increase in demand. Trurapi 100units/ml 3ml penfills are compatible with the AllStar Pro and JuniorSTAR refillable pens.
• Insulatard Penfill 100units/ml 3ml cartridges are being discontinued
  It is anticipated there will be no stocks left by June 2025. As an alternative to Insulatard 3ml Penfill, the Medicines Supply Notifications to healthcare professionals has advised that Humulin I KwikPen 100units/ml in 3ml pre-filled pens are available and can also support the full increase in demand from April 2025. Humulin I 100units/ml 3ml Penfill are also available but can’t support an increase in demand which means that people who have been used to using a reusable pen with Penfill may need to change to using pre-filled disposable pens instead.
• Levemir is being discontinued.
  Novo Nordisk is planning to discontinue the Levemir insulin range, but not until the end of 2026. The DHSC is working with NHS England and clinical experts to develop management advice for healthcare professionals, so at this stage, there is no further advice on the discontinuation. A Medicines Supply Notification providing guidance for prescribers on what alternatives will be available will be produced. It will be interesting to see what alternatives will be advised as Levemir’s duration of action is 14 hours, so some people need it once a day and others twice a day. There is not as straight forward as the other discontinuations as there is no similar acting insulin.

If you have any concerns about changing insulin or starting a new pen, you should speak to your diabetes team or GP.