Is Toujeo a fast or long-acting insulin?

• Toujeo is a long-acting insulin that is usually given once a day.
• Toujeo lasts for up to 36 hours.
• Because it can take a few days for the full effects of Toujeo to be seen, upwards dosage adjustments should only be made every three to four days.

Toujeo is a long-acting form of man-made insulin (insulin glargine) that may be used for the treatment of high blood sugar levels in adults and children 6 years and older with diabetes mellitus.

Toujeo lasts for up to 36 hours and is usually given once a day. It may take up to five days for the full effects of Toujeo at lowering your blood sugar levels to be seen.

If you are new to insulin or just new to Toujeo, the starting dose of Toujeo may need to be adjusted. Upwards dosage adjustments are best done every three or four days because it can take that long for the effects of a changed dosage of Toujeo to be seen. This is called titration.

Your doctor may advise you to adjust your dosage based on your needs, your blood sugar levels, and your blood sugar goal number.

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How does Toujeo work?

Toujeo contains insulin glargine which is a long-acting, manmade form of human insulin.

To make insulin glargine, scientists have genetically modified a bacterium called Escherichia coli to produce insulin that is very similar to human insulin. To make it longer acting, the amino at position 21 of the A-chain (asparagine) has been replaced with glycine and two arginines have been added to the C-terminus of the B-chain. Insulin glargine may also be called an insulin analog because it is a modified version of human insulin.

Toujeo works by replacing the insulin that is normally produced by the body. The main role of insulin is to allow cells throughout the body to uptake glucose (sugar) and convert it into a form that can be used by these cells for energy. Without insulin, we cannot survive, and death from diabetes was a common occurrence until insulin was discovered in the early 1900s by Frederick Banting and Charles Best