The business of intensive insulin therapy for type 2 diabetes patients: where it all began for me.

Ideally, it would be easy for physicians with Diabetes Control and Complications Trial data in hand to convince type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients on insulin to move toward intensive insulin therapy (IIT), but in actuality, patient compliance remains a significant issue. One of the statistics that best illustrates this point is that 89% of T2DM patients on insulin do not inject themselves outside of the home (according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey). The market has responded to poor compliance by developing insulin pens and different insulin formulations to improve compliance. But the fact remains that most T2DM patients on insulin are out of control. I would suggest that, in addition to better education, an opportunity exists for a medical device approach to better facilitate an easy-to-use, discreet approach to moving from conventional to IIT.