From DiabetesMine.com:
“Very big news in the diabetes world today, Folks: the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has announced a partnership with insulin pump makers Animas Corp. (a Johnson & Johnson company) to actually start building the first ready-for-market artificial pancreas, i.e. “a fully automated system to dispense insulin … based on real-time changes in blood sugar levels.” DexCom will provide the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology for the new system being developed.”
From SixUntilme.com:
"JDRF, Animas, and Dexcom Walk Into a Bar: Not a Diabetes Joke - An Artificial Pancreas.
Okay, so it’s not a joke. And it’s not a bar. But the JDRF, Animas, and DexCom have walked into a momumental agreement in efforts to create an artificial pancreas."
Just used the Twitter button to tweet this! This is an interesting step forward. Amy and Kerri have great posts about this news and answer several of the questions that I had. Thanks to you all!
I am hugely skeptical. I think that this may happen, but we are a long way from having a device that can decide insulin dosing.
Imagine that you take a medicine that could be fatal within hours if misdosed. How confident do you need to be in the accuracy of that machine to hand over your decisions?
While I think that it is good that this research is going on, I’m more excited by research towards a cure than towards an artificial pancreas.
I am both a late adopter as well as original skeptic: How could anything artificial be an improvement? I likely would not accept the artificial pancreas as the perfect solution for my diabetes any more than Lasik for my nearsightedness. Yet, insulin could be argued to be artificial, as could the many oral medications we use to counter diabetes.
Still, an artificial pancreas would be progress, which is much more than I sometimes feel I have a right to ask for. Cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia, AIDS/HIV, Alzheimer’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), asthma, Parkinson’s, Tay-Sachs – all are incurable.
Despite the cynicism and skepticism, I can be a pathetic idealist: How cool would it be to live in a world where none of these or the rest of the long list of diseases is the focus of either conversation or profit?
Afraid I’m skeptical also. Call me a control freak, but I wouldn’t trust any device not to malfunction. CGMs need to improve greatly to be accurate enough to determine levels for dispensing insulin, not to mention the other potential problems of a system like this. In theory it sounds great.
Considering what pumps & pump supplies cost, can’t imagine how out of reach expensive an artificial pancreas will be for most people.
My vote would be towards funds for a cure, not devices.
I’m looking forward to the more immediate goal of integrating CGM into tubeless pumps along with a single device controlling both. This is taking longer than I expected.
Helmut : really , something new I learned today in that case ? …I understand : interstional fluid results are not same as blood glucose results as in finger pokes and lab results .
Gerri, DexCom has a sensor for the clinical environment that does not need calibration and does not need verification with finger pricks because it is more accurate than bg strips.
P.S.: I edited a typo in my previous post. This sensor does NOT need calibration.
How completely true about drug companies using chronic conditions to enhance their profit margins! As far as I’m concerned, It would be great if it was not implantable for one, and if they could make it so that it was acceptable to people that are allergic or have resistance to insulin. Anyone know what type of insulin will be used in it? Will it be able to be refilled at home or will it be a physician’s office thing? I haven’t and really don’t have too much time until Monday to look at the website. Going camping with son’s Boy Scouts this weekend and am getting my own meals packaged and ready (don’t like hot dogs and absolutely do not want to eat kid’s cooking as I see what they do in the “kitchen” and what they don’t). Will check back in on Monday to see if my questions can be answered or if it just raises a few hundred more in my small mind.
It may be more accurate than bg strips so it will not need calibration - which is great. Still it will only measure in the interstional fluid. Thus it will be 15 minutes behind and this is to slow for an artificial pancreas.
What I found interesting is that the closed loop in a healthy body does not only involve BG measurements and insulin production. Japanese scientists revealed that the hormone Orexin is emitted when high carbohydrate intake is about to happen. This hormone orders the muscles to consume glucose and this compensates for the slower response of the insulin producing cells. Here the body has invented a mechnism to manage the fact that the insulin is coming slower as needed. A mechanism that is not available for the artificial pancreas unless they decide to inject Orexin too.
Holger, I agree that all the delays make a 24/7 closed loop impossible. However, I think that a closed loop would work fine when bg is kind of stable. I am not holding my breath for an AP. A sensor that does not need to be calibrated and is more accurate than bg strips would keep me happy for a long, long time.
