Are presently available insulin analogues clinically beneficial?

A number of insulin analogues have been developed by genetic engineering in order to improve the possibilities of substituting prandial and basal insulin requirements in diabetic patients by subcutaneous injection. For some short acting insulin analogues, in particular for [Lys(B28),Pro(B29)]-human insulin, preclinical and clinical trials have been performed. Despite the favourable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of these shortacting insulin analogues resulting in an attenuation of prandial hyperglycaemia following subcutaneous injection in diabetic patents, up to now, actual clinical benefits have not become apparent when they were used in clinical trials.