I am Christel from Diabetes Strong in this video we'll be talking about Gvoke glucagon.
If you live with insulin-dependent diabetes you might have seen this bad boy.
You might even have one.
This is a traditional, see if I can open it, the traditional glucagon kit. It looks like this.
I've been live with Type 1 diabetes since 1997 and up until Gvoke was FDA approved
in 2019 this was the only type of glucagon that I had access to.
If you have ever used one of these kits or have
taught someone else how to use it you know it requires a lot of steps and honestly, I would
not want anyone to have to do all of that if I am having a severe low blood sugar.
Gvoke is a glucagon product and it's manufactured by Xeris pharmaceuticals and it's the first pre-mixed
room temperature staple glucagon.
It's intended for treating severe low blood sugars or for situations
where no more carbohydrates can be eaten. And it's for people living with diabetes two years and up.
And just so we're all on the same page, a severe low blood sugar is defined
as a blood sugar where it goes so low that you need help from someone else
to raise your blood sugars back up to healthy levels.
Gvoke comes in two pre-measured doses so one is for adolescents and adults
and that's a one milligram, and the other one is for kids, and that's half a milligram.
This is what the Gvoke Hypopen looks like. Let me just take it out. It comes in a pouch.
This is a demo pen though, so there's no glucagon in there
but this is what it looks like. I'll just show you a close-up, so you can see a little better.
The Hypopen, this one, is an auto-injector, so it works much like an EpiPen.
I've never used an EpiPen so that analogy doesn't really work for me but it might help you.
The pen comes pre-filled with glucagon, and it has a two-year shelf life, and the cool thing about
this is; well first of all it's pre-mixed, you will never see the needle because it's an auto-injector
and the third, you don't need to store it in the fridge.
The way to use the Hypopen is, you keep it in the pouch until you need it
once you need it, you take it out of the pouch, take off the red cap
see the yellow part, you then push that against the skin, you hold for five seconds
one, two, three, four, five, that was a little bit more than five. What you'll see here is
that the window will turn red and that means the dose has been delivered. Then blood sugar
blood sugars should return to normal levels, but still call 9-1-1
This, this is what the Gvoke PFS or the pre-fill syringe looks like, and
this is the box that they come in. You get two pre-filled syringes in these boxes
and they each come in these pouches. You're not supposed to take it out of the pouch
until you're ready to use the product. This is the real deal, so I'm not going to take
it out and show you but I can show you a photo again of what the syringe looks like.
Each syringe is pre-filled with glucagon and it has a shelf life of two years, and what's really
cool about this product is, well it's pre-mixed, I kind of like that it's in a syringe because
that means that once it's injected, first I know that's injected when the plunger goes all the
way down, you can visually see that the whole dose has been given
and then finally you don't have to keep it refrigerated.
To use Gvoke PFS this is what you do. I'm gonna put this here so you can see it.
You're gonna take the product out of the pouch,
then you're gonna pull off the needle cap,
pinch the skin and inject at a 90-degree angle.
This is on the box as well as on the pouch.
Blood sugar should then return to normal level, but you should still call 9-1-1
Glucagon should be injected into the upper arms, the stomach, or the thigh.
That's what you can see here.
After using Gvoke, if the person is passed out or having a seizure
you want to turn them on the side and call for emergency help.
Glucagon makes the liver release glucose into the bloodstream which makes blood sugars return
to normal levels. It can take up to 15 minutes for glucagon to work which requires patience and
it can be very stressful, especially if the person that you're helping has passed out or having a seizure
In a clinical study where patients were fasting adults saw an average blood sugar peak increase
of 176 milligrams per deciliter after using Gvoke.
The average peak blood sugar increase for kids range from 123 to 145 milligrams per deciliter
after using Gvoke depending on the age group of the kids.
There can be side effects by using a glucagon product, and Gvoke is no exception.
So for adults, the most common side effects that were reported
were vomiting, headaches, nausea and
swelling at the injection site. However for those who did report side effects
81 percent of them said it was mild side effects.
I hope this video helped you gain a better understanding of Gvoke glucagon.
If you think this is the right product for you, I recommend reaching
out to your doctor to get a prescription, and get proper training in how to use the product.
You can also request a prescription through Gvokeglucagon.com. There you can also find copay cards.
That's what I did. So I went through, I got a copay card, and actually ended up getting
my Gvoke PFS for zero dollar copay.
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Thank you so much for watching