N.S. woman uses pork insulin for 50 years, but province won't cover it

For 50 years, Julie Anne Currie has been using the same insulin to stay alive.

With Type 1 diabetes, she injects herself each day with pork insulin, something she says has worked best to manage her condition.

"Pork insulin has been good to me," Currie said. "Your body knows what it likes and what it doesn't like and mine just didn't like the synthetic [insulin.]"

The use of insulin from cows or pigs has steadily decreased with the introduction of synthetic insulin in the early 2000s, and few companies have continued to market these drugs.

But that's not a problem for Currie. She has no trouble purchasing pig insulin.

The problem is getting the life-saving drug covered by the Nova Scotia Seniors' Pharmacare program.

The family's frustration is that the issue seems to stem from a drug identification number that the province has told them isn't on the formulary — the list of drugs covered by the plan.

"I'm willing to pay for it if push comes to shove, because I need it to survive," Currie said.

Until this spring, Currie was on her husband's Blue Cross medical plan, which covered 80 per cent of the cost. 

After turning 65, she was forced off that plan and switched to the province's program.

Everything else she needed to manage her diabetes — the lancets and strips to test her blood sugar, the needles to inject her insulin — were covered.

When it came to her insulin, Currie was told that only synthetic forms of insulin were available for coverage because the province didn't have the eight-digit drug identification number.

This was a shock to her and her husband, Darrell Currie, since the number had not been an issue with Blue Cross and is clearly printed on the top corner of her insulin boxes.

"To me it's just a clerical issue that with a keystroke it can be covered. That's all it is," Darrell Currie said.

"If it wasn't for the fact that she requires it for her life, then we wouldn't be having this conversation today."

Province says doctor must fill out form

Since May, they've been paying $270 a month for two vials — one vial of long-acting and one of short-acting insulin — in order to keep Currie alive.

Darrell Currie said he and his wife filled out out a form to have the insulin covered by Pharmacare, but were told it wasn't an option.

When contacted by CBC, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Wellness said based on drug identification numbers, pork insulin may be eligible for coverage if a form is completed by a physician and submitted to Pharmacare for consideration.

But Darrell Currie said he previously asked if a letter from their doctor was required. He said they were told it wouldn't help.

He said no one ever mentioned having the doctor fill out a form was an option.

He said he's worried about what this will mean for other aging Nova Scotians on animal insulin.

"Where you need this life-depending drug to survive, this is a pretty serious issue," he said. "And I think a lot of people who are approaching age 65 who had all the coverage, no worries, now when they turn 65 there could be issues for other people."

Beef insulin discontinued in Canada

It's unclear how much longer animal-sourced insulin will still be available in Canada.

Since 2006, Wockhardt UK Limited has been the only company to offer pork insulin at Canadian pharmacies, according to Health Canada.

The company said in an email it supplies 1,000 vials of each the short and long-acting porcine insulin to Canada each year.

Until last October, Wockhardt was also providing bovine insulin. A release from Diabetes Canada at that time stated the company was discontinuing the manufacturing of beef insulin because suppliers have been unable to withstand the decrease in demand.

A 2014 paper by Health Canada suggests that along with the rise of synthetic insulin, the dwindling availability of beef insulin production and supply was affected by the emergence of diseases like mad cow disease.

But it stresses the need for animal insulin remains.

"There is some evidence to suggest that some patients have better metabolic and symptomatic control when receiving animal-sourced insulin and can therefore manage their diabetes more effectively."

The paper also states that federal, provincial and territorial drug plans have processes to evaluate requests for access to animal insulin and given the need for some patients, Health Canada will continue to monitor the situation and availability of animal insulin in Canada.

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