Table 1.

Insulin Formulations Available[4,5]

Insulin	Onset of action	Peak	Duration
Rapid acting (analog)
aspart	10–20 minutes	1–3 hours	3–5 hours
lispro	15–30 minutes	0.5–2.5 hours	3–6.5 hours
glulisine	10–15 minutes	1–1.5 hours	3–5 hours
Short-acting (human)
Regular	30–60 minutes	1–5 hours	6–10 hours
Intermediate (human)
NPH	1–2 hours	6–14 hours	16–24+ hours
Long-acting (analog)
detemir	0.8–2 hours	No significant peak	Up to 24 hours
glargine	1.1 hours	No significant peak	Up to 24 hours
Premixed (analog)
70% APS/30% aspart	10–20 minutes	1–4 (2.4) hours†	Up to 24 hours
75% NPL/25% lispro	10–30 minutes	1–6.5 (2.6) hours†	Up to 24 hours
50% NPL/50% lispro	10–30 minutes	0.8–4.8 (2.3) hours†	Up to 24 hours
Premixed (human)
70% NPH/30% regular	30–60 minutes	1.5–16 (4.4) hours†	Up to 18–24 hours
50% NPH/50% regular	30–60 minutes	2–5.5 (3.3) hours†	Up to 18–24 hours

^†Range (mean)

NPH = neutral protamine Hagedorn; APS = aspart protamine suspension; NPL = neutral protamine lispro

Adapted with permission from Allen.[4]