Why should this popular drug be withdrawn? There are both official, and the 'never to be mentioned' reasons.
Novo Nordick, the drug company producing Levemir, has announced that it is withdrawing the drug, in all forms, by the end of 2026. Levemir is a long-acting analogue insulin used in the treatment of diabetes, usually injected on a daily basis. The decision was announced in June, then August 2025 in a ‘Medicines Safety Notices’ 9 (MSC) by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), telling doctors not to start any new patient on Levemir.
So why has Levemir being discontinued? Insulin drugs have been used for just over 100 years, certainly a life-saver for many people with Type 1 Diabetes, and were considered a wonder drug. And Levemir has been one of the most widely prescribed, and most profitable pharmaceutical drugs, of the last 20 years.
The official reasons, outlined here in this Diabetes UK website, says that Novo Nordisk decision was made in September 2024, that it was a global decision made because the drug was considered to be “an older insulin and declining in use globally”.
Yet apparently doctors still have faith in it. This MIMS article suggests that the second MSC notice was issued because the first one was largely ignored - in other words, doctors continued to prescribe it for new diabetes patients.
So what was the real reason for the withdrawal of Levemir? Perhaps this can be found in the Drugs.com website that lists the serious adverse reactions known to be caused by the drug. (Note that the withdrawal has been announced via an MSN, that is a Medicines Safety Notice)!
Clearly, Levemir has serious side effects, including anxiety, blurred vision, confusion, depression, joint pain, seizures, unusual tiredness/weakness, and many, many more. Anyone taking the drug should read, and know about the harm they can cause. And remember, most of these ‘side effects’ might be expected to lead to more drug taking, to poly-pharmacy, and so yet more drug side effects. Have patients ever been consistently told this?
The government (acting in support of the pharmaceutical medical establishment) has, of course, denied that adverse drug effects has anything to do with it - “this decision is not a consequence of any safety or quality related issues” - but then they would, wouldn’t they! Insulin drugs were first introduced way back in 1921. Levemir was introduced more recently, in 2005.
This denial by the medical establishment suggests they consider it acceptable that pharmaceutical drugs that can cause this level of harm can be proscribed to patients.
If they were to tell the truth about Levimir now, 20 years on, it might bring into question why they have allowed it to be prescribed to patients since 2005, and about how much patient harm it has caused during this time.
So how important is this news? Sadly it is probably not very important at all! It is just one drug amongst hundreds that have been withdrawn in a similar manner. It appears to be the new preferred way that the Pharmaceutical Industry now abandons harmful and dangerous drugs.
Once upon a time such drugs were banned by Drug Regulators: but this was bad publicity for the Pharmaceutical Medical Establishment (go to this link for more detailed information).
Then they were withdrawn, as silently as possible, for safety reasons: this was less harmful publicity, perhaps, but only marginally so.
Now drugs are withdrawn for ‘commercial’ reasons'; it is purely a business decision; it has nothing to do with patient harm.
I have said the same thing about AstraZeneca’s withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine in 2024. The reasons given did not concern the harm caused to patients, or for safety reasons….
“The AstraZeneca vaccine was the one given to most British citizens in 2021. The company (fairly quietly) dropped the vaccine in 2022, they claimed on commercial grounds (the AZ vaccine was never approved in the USA and several other countries; it was effectively banned in a number of European countries, and was no longer being used in the UK). Another 'commercial' reason could be that the AZ vaccine is now subject to a large number of compensation claims by patients who have been damaged by the vaccine. Such claims, of course, will be strongly contested by government (who will have to pay any compensation awarded), and the pharmaceutical industry (who have been given immunity from any liability)”.
When any pharmaceutical drug is removed from the market “for commercial reasons” we need to be skeptical. It can certainly be assumed that the real reason is patient safety. However, they are no longer ‘banned’, or ‘withdrawn’ for the benefit of patients.
It is more important to disguise the fact that the drug has caused harm - for the sake of the ongoing credibility of the pharmaceutical industry.
