European Medicines Agency update on safety of insulin glargine

European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued details on the safety of the insulin analogues, in particular insulin glargine, and its risk of cancer. 

Insulin glargine is a long-acting insulin analogue, authorized in the European Union (EU) as Lantus and Optisulin, for the treatment of adults, adolescents and children aged six years or above with diabetes, when treatment with insulin is required. 

Concerns over a possible relationship between these medicines and cancer, in particular breast cancer, were raised by four recently published registry studies. The Committee carried out an in-depth review of these studies and their outcomes. 

Due to methodological limitations the studies were found to be inconclusive and did not allow a relationship between insulin glargine and cancer to be confirmed or excluded.