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Looking to the near future...

tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
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8,936
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
I've been doing a bit of reading about what is due to arrive relatively soon on the Diabetic Technology front. There are some interesting innovations out there. But what do they mean for the management of Type 1 diabetes?

The Bionic Pancreas Project is very, very interesting, especially as it uses both Insulin and Glucagon to manage the body's glucose levels, so even though closed loop, in theory it should allow proper regulation. The clinical trials that have been undertaken so far all look very promising. http://www.bionicpancreas.org/

For the nearer term, Common Sensing's replacement pen cap that tracks insulin usage and bluetooth's it to a phone looks like it should be paired with an app on the phone that reads the Libre sensor to give you an automated match up between insulin injections and glucose tracking - a lot easier than remembering to enter details into the separate device. I think this could be profoundly interesting for both physicians and diabetics. http://www.common-sensing.com/#product

The Medtronic pen injection device also looks good. I think the iPort allows you to use your pen more like a pump, with multiple regular shots throughout the day, safe in the knowledge that you are not breaking the skin constantly and increasing lipotrophy risks and can instead give yourself a lower, more constant dosage. Start to really think like a pancreas on MDI! Instead of running a basal insulin through the day, give yourself multiple fast acting shots then a single basal overnight. Truly flexible, but some might find it a pain. http://www.i-port.com/i-port-advance.html

Monitoring - well the Libre is here, but what are other companies going to come out with? There is at least one user on here who is associated with something interesting in this realm, and I for one am intrigued, given how useful (in spite of its issues) the Libre is.

Finally, the pump space - apparently some interesting new developments on the pump front later in the year, although for the life of me I can't find out what they are! Anyone know?

What are your thoughts on some of the advances that are supposed to be coming?
 
My favourite is the idea of smart insulin, which @ohitsnicola posted about a while back.
https://www.jdrf.org.uk/research/overview-of-research-programme/treat/smart-insulin
I think it's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it's a 2015 or 2016 thing. I was trying to look for things where there had been some level of clinical trials, so that we could see benefits in the near term. I think this is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it's got away from the ideas stage yet!
 
I think it's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it's a 2015 or 2016 thing. I was trying to look for things where there had been some level of clinical trials, so that we could see benefits in the near term. I think this is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it's got away from the ideas stage yet!
True
 
The Closed Loop insulin delivery system does sound very promising, we can only hope there's more to come.
 
Pump wise I am waiting to see when the Debiotech JewelPump finally gets certification.

From the ground up it seems to be a much more sustainable patch pump and its ability to sense any kind of occlusions almost immediately make it really good from that side. I have been tracking this one for a while and they seem to have put a lot of effort of late into trying to build it out as a complete suite and not just the clever little MEMS pump.

I still have not been able to find any details on the costs of this device. I know that the OmniPod is pretty good though the ongoing costs associated are pretty high, where all traditional pumps seem to have a higher up front cost but lower running costs. Also I never did find any details on what the actual pump mechanism in the OmniPod is, though that's my inner engineer wanting to know how it works.
 
not related to insulin but definitely related to a known complication of Diabetes -- Retinopathy

i am trialling a new non invasive sleep mask called the Noctura 400

link below

http://www.noctura.com/
 
not related to insulin but definitely related to a known complication of Diabetes -- Retinopathy

i am trialling a new non invasive sleep mask called the Noctura 400

link below

http://www.noctura.com/

Just looked at this and looks very interesting. I would love to trial it. Thanks for the link.

RRB
 
Just looked at this and looks very interesting. I would love to trial it. Thanks for the link.

RRB
it is currently undergoing stage 3 trials for NICE approval at amongst other places moorfields hospital.

here is a bit more on it -- cost for each mask £250
mask lasts 12 weeks exactly.
data from mask is downloaded and sent back to Noctura by the dispensing optometrist ( roll out nationwide currently ongoing)

hope this helps !
pm me if you want to discuss detail
 
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