Appointments & getting better care

Your NovoRapid FlexTouch pen is being retired: what changes (and what doesn’t)

NovoRapid FlexTouch 3ml pre-filled pens were discontinued from March 2025. FlexPen and Penfill cartridges, the same insulin, remain available.

Written by Updated 8 January 2025 3 min read
The 60-second answer

If you use the NovoRapid FlexTouch pen, the device is being retired, but the insulin inside it is not changing. NovoRapid (a fast-acting mealtime insulin) stays exactly the same. Only one particular pre-filled pen that holds it is being discontinued, and there are like-for-like ways to get the identical insulin, so nobody is losing NovoRapid.

  • The supply notice says NovoRapid FlexTouch 3ml pre-filled pens are out of stock and will be discontinued from March 2025, so people using them will be moved to another pen or cartridge.
  • The insulin, insulin aspart, is identical across the options, so this is a change of pen, not a change of what you inject.
  • The same insulin stays available as the NovoRapid FlexPen (another disposable pen), as Penfill cartridges (refills for a reusable pen), and as Trurapi (a near-identical biosimilar version).
  • The one practical step is to check the exact product name on your repeat prescription and ask your pharmacist or team to confirm the swap before you run low.
What happened

A pen is being withdrawn, not an insulin

Supply notices like this are routine, and they usually reflect a manufacturing or stock decision rather than anything being wrong with the medicine. This one covers the NovoRapid FlexTouch, a disposable pre-filled pen. It says these 3ml pens are out of stock and will be discontinued from March 2025. The wording that matters most is that the insulin itself, insulin aspart, keeps being supplied. What is going away is one particular pen that holds it, not the fast-acting insulin you rely on at meals.

What it means

Checking your prescription and swapping in good time

The same NovoRapid insulin is available as the FlexPen, another disposable pen, and as Penfill cartridges that click into a reusable pen. There is also Trurapi, a biosimilar, which is a near-identical version of the same type of insulin. Your GP or diabetes team will move you to one of these, so the useful thing you can do is check the product name on your next repeat prescription. If it still says FlexTouch, ask what you are being switched to and sort it before you run low, so there is never a gap in your mealtime insulin. Moving to the same insulin in a different pen is not meant to change the insulin itself, but if anything about using it feels different, that is a question for your team.

What to notice

Worth knowing

The insulin is not being discontinued. Only the FlexTouch pre-filled pen is, so you are not losing NovoRapid.
Check the product name on your next repeat prescription. If it still says FlexTouch, ask your GP or pharmacist what you are being moved to.
Sort the swap before you run low rather than on the day, so there is no gap in your mealtime insulin.
Different pens feel slightly different to dial and press. If yours changes, ask the pharmacist to run through it with you.
What to ask your team

Questions that make an appointment useful

"My prescription says NovoRapid FlexTouch. What are you moving me to, and is it exactly the same insulin?"
"Would a disposable pen or a reusable pen with cartridges suit me better? Can we look at the options?"
"Will moving to a different NovoRapid pen change anything about how I take it?"
Sources