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Future of Insulin?

Rhys.

Active Member
Messages
26
Location
Leicester
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hey all,

Hope everyone is keeping well.

Noticed a lot of us, including me, have issues now and again with insulin. Does anybody know of any further improvement with what we currently have? Not saying it's no good, because it's life saving for all of us, but I am reading blogs on " Smart Insulin " and assume that there is room for improvement for both stable blood sugars and minimal injections.

I still feel optimistic about the cure being on the way, but I feel like it's a spit in the face to those of you who have been told " In 10 Years, it will be fixed ", when we are still in the same position, just with easier lifestyles than 20 years ago. Maybe 1 injection a day insulin, or even a month, is a possibility first? Thoughts? Anything coming to Market?

Personally, I am not bothered, but I think certainly for children this could be a massive leap if insulin was ever improved.
 
My prediction/hope is that the focus is on eradication first, treatment second and cure third.
I would rather they focus on understanding the cause of Type 1 so no one needs t experience it in the future.
As you say, treatment has come on leaps and bounds in the last 20 years with pumps, faster insulin and CGMs. On this front, I expect advancement of closed loop management rather than single dose as should provides flexibility to behave and eat "normally".
If the treatment improves and then they stop it happening, there will be no need for a cure.
 
A number of things are being proposed. There is the possibility of a vaccine to stop killer T cells from attacking insulin producing cells. This of course relies on catching the disease in it's early days. It has been tested on mice and a Swedish company (Diamyd Medical) has started human trials.

The 'smart insulin' that you mentioned is an idea that seems quite promising and I think it comes from research by JDRF .

Whilst I was in hospital recently, I saw a nurse wearing a tubeless insulin pump similar to this but I think it was a different brand and I didn't get the opportunity to have a proper conversation with her. It appeared to offer her quite a lot of freedom though.

And I recently read a ;little about regenerative medicine which appears to hold some promise and several companies are active in this area.

Fingers crossed!
 
I don't know about insulins though because this is a growth market (for type 2 sadly) I assume there must be investment in making it better and more like indigenous stuff.
I am encouraged that I am eligible (pending a bean counters' meeting) for a tandem t slim pump + Dexcom sensor to enable closed looping. It is not going to learn but will adjust my insulin up and down based on a trend line from minute by minute bg readings.
Having started out on urine stick tests and syringues over 40 years ago this does seem like a big leap forward and anecdotally I've heard good things about this system producing boring near normal flat lines of blood glucose levels!
 
Been hearing the 10 year story for the last 4 decades , I’ll no hold my breath , I’ve seen the advancement in 40 years and I’ll say treatment is like night and day from what it was to what it is now, i am optimistic that treatment will advance and make living with diabetes easier than it is today , that’s all we can ask , there are lots of post here about what treatment was like 40 years ago well worth a read to appreciate advances that have been made
 
Hi folks,

I had written above that I'd seen a nurse wearing a tubeless insulin pump but didn't know what it was, I am now pretty sure it was an Omnipod Dash - looks interesting.
 

There has been some ideas circulating around that type 1 diabetes actually branches into two, T1a and T1b and that it isn’t a single disease but a cluster of many diseases with the same autoimmune destruction
 
TypeZero. said:
There has been some ideas circulating around that type 1 diabetes actually branches into two, T1a and T1b and that it isn’t a single disease but a cluster of many diseases with the same autoimmune destruction
Click to expand...

Hi TZ,

I've not heard of this one.. I'd be interested in a source link?
Though, I'm still not sure of what (if any.) bearing it has on this particular topic..
 
urbanracer said:
Hi folks,

I had written above that I'd seen a nurse wearing a tubeless insulin pump but didn't know what it was, I am now pretty sure it was an Omnipod Dash - looks interesting.
Click to expand...
I use the omnipod dash. First time pump user, 2.5 months in & wouldn't want to part with it. Hardly notice it anymore
 
Jaylee said:
Hi TZ,

I've not heard of this one.. I'd be interested in a source link?
Though, I'm still not sure of what (if any.) bearing it has on this particular topic..
Click to expand...

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200315205207.htm

It doesn’t really mean anything for the future of insulin but it does mean that even if we find a cure, the cure is not going to be for everyone and we need multiple cures before the disease is eradicated
 
Soplewis12 said:
I use the omnipod dash. First time pump user, 2.5 months in & wouldn't want to part with it. Hardly notice it anymore
Click to expand...

Likewise and would encourage anyone to try out who hasn’t. I was set against a pump due to medical wires but with the dash, I sometimes forget where it is!
 
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