This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
FDA issues alert about risks associated with sharing insulin pens
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
FDA officials have issued an alert about insulin pens and cartridges that contain multiple doses after reports that two hospitals at undisclosed locations were changing needles between patients, but using the same cartridge to administer insulin among multiple patients.
“Insulin pens are not designed and are not safe for one pen to be used by more than one patient, even if needles are changed between patients due to the risk of transmitting bloodborne pathogens,” Amy Egan, MD, deputy director of safety at the FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said in a press release.
Several of the more than 2,000 people who were potentially exposed have tested positive for hepatitis C virus, but an association between the disease and insulin pen sharing cannot be confirmed at this time, FDA officials said.