title: An assessment of dose accuracy and injection force of a novel prefilled insulin pen: comparison with a widely used prefilled insulin pen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  FlexTouch® (FT) (Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsværd, Denmark) is a new prefilled insulin pen with a novel injection mechanism encompassing no push-button extension at any dose-setting. This study assessed the dose accuracy and injection force of FT compared with the established Next Generation FlexPen® (NGFP) (Novo Nordisk A/S Bagsværd, Denmark).
  
  
  METHODS
  Dose accuracy was measured at the minimum, medium and maximum doses (FT, 1, 40 and 80 international units (IU) and NGFP, 1, 30 and 60 IU). Injection force was measured during the injection of the maximum dose (FT, 80 IU; NGFP, 60 IU).
  
  
  RESULTS
  FT and NGFP delivered insulin accurately and consistently at all doses (mean ± s.d., FT at 1 IU, 0.98 ± 0.07; 40 IU, 39.86 ± 0.33; 80 IU, 79.76 ± 0.64; NGFP at 1 IU, 1.02 ± 0.08; 30 IU, 29.69 ± 0.30; 60 IU, 59.50 ± 0.51). FT had a significantly (p < 0.0001) lower injection force than NGFP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study demonstrated that FT and NGFP deliver insulin accurately and consistently at low, medium and high doses. The novel torque spring injection mechanism of FT results in a significantly lower injection force than NGFP and a pen requiring less thumb-pressure to inject insulin may be welcomed by many people with diabetes.
authors: Novo Nordisk A/S, Brennum Park, DK-3400 Hillerød, Denmark.
authors: Jakob O
authors: JO
authors: Wielandt
authors: Marcus
authors: M
authors: Niemeyer
authors: Marianne R
authors: MR
authors: Hansen
authors: Ditlef
authors: D
authors: Bucher
authors: Niels B
authors: NB
authors: Thomsen
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections / Q000295:instrumentation; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D013594:Syringes / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin