As diabetic’s patients need several insulin injections each day, an easy delivery method can enhance the life of these people. Eli Lilly saw great potential for a device that allowed users to maintain an active lifestyle by making injections quick and unobtrusive. Also sometimes with their busy schedules, diabetic patient may forget to track their daily doses and the consequences one has to prick the previously calloused fingertips to measure blood sugar which can mean as many as 10 punctures in a day. This unique insulin pen could prevent these punctures. The Indianapolis drug maker's Memoir pen, the first on the market with a memory device, is for use with its top-selling insulin Humalog. Lilly says Memoir could reduce hassles for some of the 21 million Americans who live with diabetes. With pen cost being as expensive as $100 some predict U.S. insurers and patients might be hesitant to pay for the pen and a separate fee for the insulin cartridges. Lilly plans to offer coupons that let patients buy one of the new pens for $45. The new pen could boost Lilly's diabetes product portfolio, which took a hit last month when the company announced it was halting the construction of a Virginia insulin plant.

Lilly spent seven years developing the pen in partnership with Battelle Medical Device Solutions of Columbus, Ohio. It is one of three that Lilly plans to introduce this year, part of a strategy to increase Humalog demand, said Lehman Brothers analyst Tony Butler.
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