Insulin treatment for the early 80s: facts and questions about old and new insulins and their usage.

Recent data now emphasize the importance of blood glucose control as a means of forestalling diabetic microvascular disease. As a result, attempts are being made to optimize conventional insulin therapy, and new modes of insulin delivery (e.g., pumps) are being adopted. Also, improvements in manufacturing technology have resulted in the commercial availability of porcine insulin, which is highly effective in preventing the complications of insulin therapy in those patients receiving only this material. Human insulin, produced biosynthetically in bacteria using recombinant DNA technology, is now being tested. While these developments in insulin and its administration offer great promise to the diabetic patient, many more studies will be needed to determine their absolute clinical benefits.