New insulins and the risk of cancer.

On 26 June 2009, four studies with an accompanying editorial (1) were published online in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) (2). Performed in Germany, Sweden, England and Scotland using large diabetes and cancer databases, these retrospective epidemiological studies investigated the risk of malignancy in patients treated with insulin analogues, in particular insulin glargine (brand name Lantus), sanofi-aventis). The results have been discussed extensively in the public domain and have led to considerable insecurity of patients treated with insulin analogues. Several position statements and commentaries have been issued (3,4) concluding that a relationship between insulin glargine and cancer cannot be confirmed nor excluded on the basis of currently available data and that the concerns require further in-depth evaluation.