Type 2 Diabetes: Injectable medication for diabetes

See our patient handout about injectable medications for diabetes.

A. Short/rapid-acting insulin

Rapid-acting analogues

  1. Insulin aspart (NovoRapid, Fiasp)
  2. Insulin glulisine (Apidra)
  3. Insulin lispro (Humalog)
  • Inject 0-15 minutes before meals
  • Starts to work in about 15 minutes
  • Peaks 1 to 1.5 hours after injection
  • Lasts about 3 to 5 hours
  • Clear

Short-acting

  1. Regular (Humulin R; Novolin ge Toronto)
  • Inject 30 minutes before meals
  • Starts to work in about 30 minutes
  • Peaks 2 to 3 hours after injection
  • Lasts about 5 to 10 hours
  • Clear

B. Intermediate/long-acting insulin

Intermediate-acting

  1. NPH (Humulin N; Novolin ge NPH)
  • Usually injected once or twice daily
  • Starts to work in about 1 to 3 hours
  • Peaks 5 to 8 hours after injection
  • Lasts about 12 to 18 hours
  • Cloudy; must be mixed before injection

Long-acting analogues

  1. Insulin degludec (Tresiba)
  2. Insulin detemir (Levemir)
  3. Insulin glargine (Lantus, Basaglar, Toujeo)
  • Usually injected once or twice daily
  • Lantus, Levemir and Basaglar start to work in   
    about 1 to 2 hours and last about 16 to 24 hours with no peak
  • Toujeo starts to work in about 6 hours and   
    lasts up to 30 hours with no peak
  • Tresiba starts to work in about 1 hour and
    lasts more than 42 hours with no peak
  • Clear

C. Pre-mixed insulin

Pre-mixed

  1. Humulin 30/70 (30% R; 70% NPH)
  2. Novolin ge 30/70 (30% R; 70% NPH)
  3. Novolin ge 40/60 (40% R; 60% NPH)
  4. Novolin ge 50/50 (50% R; 50% NPH)
  • Usually injected twice daily (breakfast & supper)
  • Cloudy; must be mixed before injection

Pre-mixed analogues

  1. Humalog Mix25 (25% rapid-acting; 75% longer-acting)
  2. Humalog Mix50 (50% rapid-acting; 50% longer-acting)
  3. NovoMix 30 (30% rapid-acting; 70% longer-acting)
  • Usually injected twice daily (breakfast & supper)
  • Cloudy; must be mixed before injection

D. GLP-1 analogues

Daily

  1. Liraglutide (Victoza) 0.6mg-1.8mg per day (with or without food)
  2. Lixisenatide (Adlyxine) 10mcg-20mcg per day (within 1 hour prior to any meal)

Weekly

  1. Dulaglutide (Trulicity) 0.75mg-1.5mg once weekly
  2. Semaglutide (Ozempic) 0.25mg-1mg once weekly”
  • Replaces GLP-1 usually made by the body
  • ONLY for people with type 2 diabetes
  • May result in some weight loss
  • Nausea is a common side effect; it decreases over time in most people
  • Clear

 

Was this page helpful?

If you would like us to follow-up with you to provide assistance, please enter your preferences for how you wish to be contacted below:

If you provide your contact information, we will be able to respond and help you find the information you are seeking or other support through our website.

Personal information is collected under the authority of the Public Hospitals Act R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER P.40 for the purpose of contacting the sender in response to an inquiry. If you have questions about the collection of this information, please contact a Privacy and Freedom of Information Consultant, Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care, 21 Grosvenor Street, Room WB31, London Ontario, N6A 1Y6. Phone: 519-646-6100 ext. 64545.