Over 1/3 of T1D patients quit Med-T 670G

I don’t blame you. I started on Medtronic pumps back in 1987, used several successive models and even use one now for Loop. I think Med-T has lost touch with its customers and their concerns. Sometimes market success and dominance breed a corporate culture that cannot be sustained.

Medtronic could surprise us and change tacks. I hope that happens since more competition is good for us. We shall see.

In the meantime I am buoyed by the performance of companies like Tandem, BigFoot, Beta Bionics, Insulet, as well as the non-profit Tidepool and the continuing market disruptions emanating from the do-it-yourself #WeAreNotWaiting movement.

We have lots of choices now; Medtronic cannot take us for granted.

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The CEO of Medtronics made over $17 MILLION in compensation for fiscal year 2018. I doubt he cares about a product that one division makes, being the best in it’s class.

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Do you think that the Medtronic CEO cares about his company’s bottom line? Does he care about the competitiveness of one of its lesser divisions?

Apparently he doesn’t care that the pump division isn’t best in class.

The Clinical Trial that appears to be for the next Medtronic pump (most recently called the 780G) with an original Study Start date of December 2017 is now scheduled to start tomorrow, May 13, 2019 with an anticipated study completion date of June 2020.

So perhaps the CEO really is focused on advancing their pump offerings and delivering an enhanced solution.

Why would they start now? I’m thinking that certain patents have prevented Medtronic from using the better technology on the sensors. Many years ago I watched a length, techy video (don’t know how to find it now) about how their sensors relied (or didn’t rely) on oxygen molecules for the reactions to occur on the filaments and the other company (their sensors were known for better accuracy) used a tech that did the opposite with respect to oxygen molecules. I wish I could remember more details but I do remember that oxygen was used in one companies sensor but not the other and that was suggested by the person giving the speech (might have been their CEO) that was the reason for the improved performance. If anyone remembers which company relied on oxygen, please respond. In any event, I suspect that patents may prevent Medtronic from closing the gap on sensor tech.

What was the cgm that is no longer available. it was from a meter company.

Are you thinking of Freestyle Navigator?

Yeah, that was the CGM. I just can’t remember if that was the one that had a long technical video about sensor tech. It could have been that or an older version of the Dexcom. I tried to search for the video but have yet to come across it.

@Rphil2,

To some extent I agree with your comments…the specific extent that the ages of those who dropped are not reported. If the drop percentage was reported as you suggest, it would most definitely change percentages of those staying on the 670G versus those dropping the 670G. An additional clarification needs to be added, in that, those subjects included in the study for which the 670G is not FDA approved should not be included in the calculations as valid subjects…it matters not whether those subjects dropped or continued use of the 670G.

I surmise that the data is not reported in this manner for one reason…the drop percentage would be even more drastic than 1/3!!

The numbers reported in this study…no matter the subject population from which they are calculated, does not change the fact that the 670G is a large scale farce. The 670G is nothing more than an experiment for Medtronic to see what they might get away with. It can be likened to an open label clinical trial on the unsuspecting T1D community.

I speak from experience…I read the literature…I was excited to send my third waterproof Animas pump in to Medtronic for the first Medtronic waterproof hybrid closed loop system…I was excited to set the devices up and was glowing with “WOW! I can’t believe I am wearing a pump that actually adjusts my basal on its own!”

Fast forward 2months…I could no longer tolerate the lack of accuracy of the CGM…was suffering from sleep deprivation and was on the verge of being forced to find a place away from my wife from 11PM-6AM to manage my experimental insulin pump. I was exhausted with random calibrations…6 hours…12 hours…calibration not accepted…please enter a blood glucose but don’t calibrate…types of requests. I wanted this to work…I stayed on the 670G for another month before I started the process of getting another pump with out of pocket $$$$…yes I was that fed up…the 670G was a device that drastically reduced my quality of life…the opposite of what was promised…yes my A1C came down an entire point…but at a terrible cost.

And these are only a portion of my complaints about the 670G…I will not rant about the size and bulk of the device…or about the use of GOOF-OFF to thoroughly clean the CGM transmitter and my skin from the adhesive patches…or the “fake” BGs to get the pump to calculate an appropriate bolus…or using the prime feature to take a bolus because I got tired of lying about my BG or carbs to get a proper bolus for a meal…did I mention the constant alarms…the constant care and feeding of the 670G was more taxing than having a newborn…at least I knew that a newborn would eventually sleep through the night and eventually need less of my time and would someday grow into a rewarding relationship…

I spent a few days learning the specifics of my “new” pump system after its arrival. i wore both CGMs for the first three days of transition while only receiving insulin from the “new” pump system. Once the Guardian sensor expired, I removed the sensor and all the adhesive one last time…removed the battery from the 670G and put it back in it’s box and moved all the Medtronic supplies to the top shelf of a deep dark closet.

I did not think of the 670G again until a colleague at work, who is an avid keto dieter, asked me about the tiny pager I had on my belt…I laughed and told him it was a “new” insulin pump…we began chatting about the CGM and he expressed an interest in monitoring his BG with a CGM…I told him I have a spare one in the top of my closet he could wear…we will see how a non-diabetic reacts to the 670G and all of its “requests”…without insulin of course!!..just an empty cartridge and the smallest basal possible so he doesn’t have to interact with the pump side of the 670G. My guess is that his data will not be worth cost.

However, in the end, I suppose you are correct…there is more to the story beyond page 2…

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Did you switch back to one of your Animas pumps?

Great article, @Terry4. Does anyone know what happens if you STOP using a system? Like, you can’t just buy a different one, can you?

I believe that Medtronic has yet to work out viable hardware (sensor and pump hardware are woefully inadequate). If the hardware is unreliable, there is no chance that software will do anything improve things. It is very likely to make things MUCH worse.

Paid out of pocket for a Tandem X2.

Sure you can. You just have to pay for it yourself. :wink:

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If a medical device causes significant disruptions to ones quality of life…yes he or she can appeal to ones health plan for an exception. The physician and the payer have a vested interest in mitigating such an excessive burden on the patient.

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So now, maybe the 670G and Guardian 3 sensor boosters can stop boosting, listen and acknowledge what many of us have been saying.

My wife actually complained to my endo about the alarms. She also moved to another room. I ended up disabling ALL the alarms except for hypoglycemic alarms.

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Ridiculous, huh?! I know I started to silence them mine AND my spouses health. He works shift work in a hospital and needs his sleep!!! This pump is crazy

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Great for Medicare but the rest of us are stuck. I spend several hours a week talking to Medtronic representatives.

I agree with you. I think no one should ever feel stuck with a diabetes treatment plan for four years or more if it’s not right for them. The only time I made a major commitment (psychological, not financial) to a therapy change that absolutely failed me was when I tried the Omnipod for five months back in 2012. Luckily, I used a program that allowed me to get the Omnipod PDM for something like $200 and then secure the pods I needed using my pharmacy benefit.

When the Omnipod failed me and I quit in utter frustration one Thanksgiving morning after waking up with very high glucose and a rude screeching failed pod, I would have been miserable if I had no other economic choices.

Have you considered using an old pump that you’ve previously used successfully? If you don’t have any of your own older pumps, maybe you could think about securing one for yourself. In the Medtronic line, perhaps the 530 model could help you.

I understand your situation. Trying to manage my diabetes supplies is one of the most frustrating things I do for my diabetes. Good luck finding a solution that works for you. Does Med-T sell any refurbished older pumps?

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