Mercodia Lispro ELISA enables porcine PK-study

With the help of the Mercodia Lispro NL-ELISA, researchers have explored the kinetics of an ultrafast-absorbing insulin lispro formulation.

There is a need for a rapid-acting insulin that truly can mimic endogenous insulin secretion in order for type 1 diabetic patients to keep a strict glycemic control at mealtime. The dilemma is that insulin is prone to associate into oligomers, which are needed to be dissociated into monomers for uptake into the circulation and for activity. Professor Erik Appel and his group at Stanford University have recently developed a formulation utilizing monomeric acrylamide, which stabilizes insulin lispro in a monomeric form that is absorbed ultrafast, referred to as ultrafast-absorbing lispro (UFAL)¹. Pharmacokinetic studies in a porcine model of insulin-deficient diabetes, using the Mercodia Lispro NL-ELISA, demonstrated a twofold faster time to onset and twofold shorter duration of exposure with UFAL compared with a commercial fast-acting lispro formulation. The authors suggest that UFAL has the potential to improve diabetes management and reduce patient burden, but the results need to be verified by clinical studies.

The Mercodia Lispro NL-ELISA (10-1291-01) is a PK assay fully validated for both human and pig samples according to FDA and EMA requirements.

1. Mann, J. L. et al. An ultrafast insulin formulation enabled by high-throughput screening of engineered polymeric excipients. Sci. Transl. Med. 12, (2020).