For my colleague, every evening at 7 pm, the day came to a halt.<\/p>\n
No matter how busy work was or what plans she had, she had to be at her 88-year-old father’s home to give him his insulin injection. The timing wasn’t negotiable. Her father, who has severe diabetes, could not administer the injection himself.<\/p>\n
“There were days when I got delayed because of work or traffic, and he would sit anxiously waiting,” she recalls. “I still remember one night when I was stuck in traffic and reached only at 10:45 pm. My parents were extremely worried. At his age, even delaying an insulin dose felt like a huge risk.”<\/p>\n
For years, this routine dictated not just her father’s life but hers too.<\/p>\n
That is why the arrival of the world’s first once-weekly insulin in India feels like more than just another medical innovation.<\/p>\n
“It means fewer injections, greater independence for patients, and enormous peace of mind for families like ours,” she says. “I know there are countless caregivers who will feel the same relief.”<\/p>\n
NEW ONCE-A-WEEK INSULIN<\/p>\n
This week, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched Awiqli (insulin icodec), the world’s first once-weekly basal insulin in India, for adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n
Instead of injecting insulin every day, eligible patients can now take one injection a week, reducing the number of annual injections from 365 to just 52.<\/p>\n
Awiqli costs about Rs 261 per week, or roughly Rs 1,045 per month for a patient taking 70 units a week.<\/p>\n
Many daily basal insulin products in India cost anywhere between Rs 700 and over Rs 2,000 per month, depending on the brand, insulin type (human vs analogue), and dosage.<\/p>\n
A larger 3 ml pen with 2,100 units is priced at Rs 7,883, offering a longer supply for patients on the same dosage.<\/p>\n
So, for many patients, the cost of Awiqli is in the same range as existing long-acting insulin analogues, rather than being significantly more expensive.<\/p>\n
However, the real advantage is convenience rather than savings.<\/p>\n
MORE THAN JUST ONE LESS INJECTION<\/p>\n
For many people, diabetes isn’t difficult because of the medicine. It is difficult because it never takes a day off.<\/p>\n
Every meal needs planning. Every trip requires carrying insulin. Every evening comes with the reminder that an injection cannot be missed.<\/p>\n
For older adults, the challenge is even greater. Poor eyesight, shaky hands, arthritis or memory problems often mean they rely on a spouse, son, daughter or caregiver to administer insulin.<\/p>\n
The disease becomes a shared responsibility.<\/p>\n
“A daily insulin schedule doesn’t just affect the patient; it affects the entire family,” my colleague stresses. “Someone always has to be available.”<\/p>\n
A once-weekly injection doesn’t eliminate diabetes, but it does reduce one of its biggest daily burdens.<\/p>\n
A patient is often a confused soul and is stressed about his medicines and if we make the treatment easier the compliance is better, says Dr. Rajiv Kovil, Diabetes & Obesity Specialist at Zandra Healthcare.<\/p>\n
He added, “Once a week insulin has the potential to make life much easier for many people with type 2 diabetes. Instead of worrying about an injection every day, patients need just one injection a week, which can improve convenience, confidence and, most importantly, treatment adherence.”<\/p>\n
WHY MANY PATIENTS DELAY INSULIN<\/p>\n
India is home to one of the world’s largest populations of people with diabetes. Yet many patients who need insulin postpone starting it.<\/p>\n
According to Novo Nordisk, fear of daily injections delays insulin initiation by an average of seven to nine years in India.<\/p>\n
Doctors say the hesitation is understandable.<\/p>\n
Daily injections can be physically uncomfortable, emotionally exhausting and difficult to maintain over years or even decades.<\/p>\n
Some people worry about injecting themselves, while others find it hard to follow a strict schedule because of work, travel or family commitments.<\/p>\n
Missing doses can lead to poor blood sugar control, increasing the risk of complications affecting the heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.<\/p>\n
CAN FEWER INJECTIONS IMPROVE DIABETES CONTROL?<\/p>\n
That is the question many diabetes specialists are now asking.<\/p>\n
The hope is that reducing injections from 365 to 52 a year will make treatment easier to follow.<\/p>\n
Patients who no longer have to remember a daily injection may be less likely to miss doses. Caregivers may also find it easier to plan around a weekly schedule instead of rearranging every evening.<\/p>\n
However, doctors caution that once-weekly insulin is not a cure and will not replace healthy eating, regular exercise or blood sugar monitoring.<\/p>\n
For people with Type 1 diabetes, it also does not eliminate the need for mealtime insulin.<\/p>\n
A SHIFT IN HOW DIABETES IS MANAGED<\/p>\n
Insulin is a hormone that helps move glucose from the bloodstream into the body’s cells. People with Type 1 diabetes and many with advanced Type 2 diabetes need insulin because their bodies either produce too little of it or cannot use it effectively.<\/p>\n
For decades, basal insulin has meant a daily injection.<\/p>\n
The launch of a once-weekly version represents one of the biggest changes in insulin therapy in years\u2014not because it works differently, but because it reduces the treatment burden.<\/p>\n
For families like Pooja’s, that burden has never just been medical.<\/p>\n
It has meant planning evenings around injections, cancelling outings, worrying about delays and carrying the quiet responsibility of ensuring that a loved one never misses a dose.<\/p>\n
A weekly injection cannot erase those concerns entirely. But it can reduce them from a daily obligation to a weekly one.<\/p>\n
For caregivers who have spent years watching the clock every day, the launch of this weekly insulin could be the biggest breakthrough of all.<\/p>\n
– Ends<\/p>\n
Published By: <\/p>\n
Daphne Clarance<\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Jul 10, 2026 07:30 IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For my colleague, every evening at 7 pm, the day came to a halt. No matter how busy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[271],"tags":[27733,27724,61819,61818,61820,51840,272,61623,41222,2142],"class_list":["post-126688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novo-nordisk","tag-awiqli","tag-basal-insulin","tag-caregiver-burden","tag-diabetes-india","tag-insulin-adherence","tag-insulin-icodec","tag-novo-nordisk","tag-once-weekly-insulin","tag-type-1-diabetes","tag-type-2-diabetes"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116893432273514940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}