With the number of patients with type 2 diabetes receiving insulin treatment presently exceeding the number of patients with type 1 diabetes and the responsibility for initiating insulin therapy in these patients continuing to shift to primary care [11], it will be increasingly important for general practitioners to understand the pharmacological properties of currently available and emerging insulin preparations in type 2 diabetes patients, so that treatment can be adapted to meet patients’ physiological and lifestyle requirements. This evidence concerns the gene INS and type 1 diabetes mellitus.