The US company, Medtronic sells the Paradigm range of insulin pumps. At present, patients using these devices have to transfer insulin every two to three days from a vial to a reservoir that fits inside their pump.
The new agreement with Novo aims to develop prefilled insulin cartridges that will eliminate this manual transfer process, simplifying pump therapy for Paradigm insulin pump users. The cartridges will contain Novo's NovoLog (insulin aspart) product, which was approved for use in pumps by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2002.
NovoLog was the first so-called insulin analogue - modified versions of insulin that offer different pharmacokinetics to the parent molecule - to be approved for pump use, and has plenty of data supporting its value alongside pumps in providing good glucose control, according to Novo president Martin Soeters.
The drug is a rapid-acting analogue that has been on the market since 2001 in cartridges and vials for the control of hyperglycaemia in adults with type 1 and 2 diabetes.
In addition to developing prefilled cartridges, the companies intend to initiate clinical studies to demonstrate the advantages of NovoLog insulin and Paradigm pump therapy over other insulin therapies.
The use of insulin pumps has been growing faster than the other major routes of administration - syringe and pen injection - on the back of data that suggest pumps can enhance glycaemic control and improved quality of life for insulin-requiring diabetic patients.
People who use insulin pumps are said to enjoy increased discretion in daily living patterns compared to those using other forms of insulin administration, and there is a perception - at least among some health care professionals and consumers - that they are associated with a reduced risk of hypoglycaemic events.
Medtronic is currently the market leader in the diabetes pump sector, holding 82 and 30 per cent of the US and European markets, respectively. The other major player is Roche, which recently offered $1.18 billion (€908m) to purchase fellow Swiss firm Disetronic, an insulin pump manufacturer that has 17 per cent and 70 per cent of the market share in the respective regions.
Both companies are developing closed-loop artificial pancreas systems, which will combine pumps with glucose monitoring technology, and hope to be on the market with such a product by 2007.
Meanwhile, smaller pump players include Johnson & Johnson, which bought into the sector via its acquisition of Inverness and the licensing of a pump developed by Debiotech, as well as Abbott Laboratories and Bayer.