OBJECTIVES: To evaluate long-term health economic outcomes of switching from human soluble insulin (HI) to insulin aspart (IAsp) on a basal-bolus regimen in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in a Chinese setting. METHODS: The previously published and validated IMS Core Diabetes Model was used to project long-term life expectancy, quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and total direct medical costs. Baseline patient characteristics and treatment effects were based on Asian subgroup (n=185, countries including China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan) in A1chieve study which is a prospective, multi-centre, open-label, non-interventional and 24-week observational study. Treatment costs were derived from drug retail prices in Chinese market. Diabetes management and complication costs were obtained from Chinese published data. Projections were made from a societal perspective for 30 years, with costs and life years discounted at 3% annually. One-way sensitivity analysis was performed. RESULTS: Switching to IAsp from HI was projected to increase life expectancy by 0.48 year (14.11 vs. 13.63) and QALY by 0.96 QALY per patient (9.83 vs. 8.87), due to reduced incidences of diabetes-related complications. IAsp was associated with reduced total direct medical costs by CNY (Chinese Yuan) 108,464 (204,853 vs. 313,317), due to reduced complication costs by CNY 129,778 (107,084 vs. 236,862) and increased treatment and management costs of CNY (Chinese Yuan) 20,128 (57,391 vs. 37,263) and 1,186 (40,378 vs. 39,192) respectively. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated robustness of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Switching to IAsp from HI for Chinese patients with T2DM on a basal-bolus regimen was not only associated with improvements in life expectancy and QALYs, but also significant reduction in total direct medical costs. Switching to IAsp from HI on a basal-bolus regimen is a cost-saving treatment strategy for T2DM patients in a Chinese setting.