Drugs Measured in Units

Drugs are most often prescribed and labelled according to their weight or, for solutions, their strength. This is the weight dissolved or suspended in a specific volume (weight per volume u2018w/vu2019)

Some drugs such as insulin are measured in units. Insulin is most commonly supplied as 100 units/ml and administered using an insulin syringe which is calibrated in units. Some manufacturers now produce a 200 unit/ml strength. United should never be abbreviated to U because of the confusion with 0, resulting in an error.