London, 9 September 2011: A new product in the management of insulin-dependent diabetes, launching today, offers patients significant relief through an incorporated timer that tells them how long it’s been since their last insulin injection. Called Timesulin, this innovative ‘smart cap’ marks the first major step forward from the insulin pens that have been a feature of diabetes management since their release twenty years ago. Timesulin will make its debut today at the 16th annual FEND (Foundation of European Nurses in Diabetes) in Lisbon.
Timesulin greatly reduces the chances of missed or accidental double dose - a major concern for health care practitioners and patients alike. That’s why the product has already generated excitement amongst established names in the diabetes field in Europe, including Dr Åke Sjöholm, Chief of the Diabetes Research Unit at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. “Due to the habitual nature of insulin administration patients often forget whether or not they had injected their insulin dose,” Dr Sjöholm noted. “We regard this as a major challenge in managing diabetes and welcome the timely arrival of an innovative solution like Timesulin.”
The solution originated from the creators’ own familiarity with the problem. Timesulin is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs who identified the need to provide a daily solution to people living with diabetes that was simple, safe, easy to use and would improve life balance.
“The idea was born out of my own frustration as a Type 1 diabetic of over 25 years,” said Timesulin co-founder John Sjölund. “I manage my insulin injections with insulin pens and know all too well that a missed shot leads to raised blood sugar levels and causes drowsiness and body aches. At the same time, an accidental double dose has the opposite effect: blood sugar levels plummet, bringing on sweats and it can even cause a severe long & short term health complications. But mostly, it causes daily anxiety. I hate that. People with diabetes need a simpler way of knowing if they took their insulin, and when.”
“This is a very common problem: most insulin-dependent patients have at some point missed a dose or taken a double dose, specifically because they weren’t sure when they took their last shot,” said John Grumitt, Vice Chair of the Diabetes UK Board of Trustees. “A simple solution, like the one Timesulin offers, should ease the daily anxiety for many people living with diabetes.”
“I know the value of identifying market needs and offering the right solution at the right time,” said Timesulin co-founder Andreas Sjölund. Andreas helped revolutionise Internet telephony and online collaboration as co-creator and first product manager of Skype, which now has more than 700 million users from around the world. Also on the team is co-founder and Timesulin CTO, Marcel Botha, who before Timesulin developed a social networking tool for dogs called Sniftag. Marcel was originally a product engineer with MIT’s Media Lab in Boston.
Timesulin carries the CE mark, works with all major insulin pens, requires no change in habit and works straight out of the package without any programming required. Timesulin will be available to customers throughout the EU, including in the UK, from December 2011. For additional information or to purchase Timesulin caps, please visit www.timesulin.com.
Great tool !!
One of the reasons I like my Veo pump …I can set insulin delivery ( bolus ) reminders …and I need them !!!
That looks like a great idea that could help many an insulin dependent diabetic. It would give me additional piece of mind. If I was not pumping I would want at least 1.
Meh, really? what’s wrong with a watch? my iphone has a timer on it, too. My PC has a timer, too. Just one more gizmo to add to a whole list of gizmos to keep us from being responsible for our own actions. No thanks.
I actually think it’s pretty funny that they’re touting this is “the first step forward since the introduction of the insulin pen”. Uh, remember the pump?? It tells you exactly when you took your last bolus, the amount of the IOB and much more! I do think it’s useful for those people who choose, for whatever reason, not to move to a pump, but that’s a smaller niche than the advertising hyperbole implies!
A lot of people on this site seem to think that pumps are much more widely used than they really are. According to NDEP there are 26 million diabetics in the US, but there were only about 250,000 pumpers in 2006 (the most recent number I saw with a quick search). So that is only one out of 100 (or one percent) of diabetics who use a pump in the US. AND pumps are much more widely used in this country than they are in most of the world - in 2005 it was estimated that there were only 150,000 pumpers outside of the US in the whole rest of the world (numbers from THIS REF)
Thanks for raising this, Jag. Many people don't have the option of a pump. Agree there's a skewed view of how prevalent pumps are. There's a large market for this among pen users.
It might be more interesting to see those figures related to Type 1 only. Since 75% of diabetics are Type 2, and a large percentage of type 2's are not on insulin, that would certainly skew the figures. I would be very interested to see a poll of type 1's on here that are on pumps. I assure you it will be more than 1 in 100.
And there are those of us that have the option of a pump but don't want it.
I tried a pump and have no desire to ever use it again. I have talked to a bunch of people that feel the same way I do. I have a bunch of friends using MDI.
It is not a timer. I can't tell you how many times I remember reaching for my insulin pen then can't remember if I actually took it or just thought about taking it. I think that it is a great idea.
I found a CDC fact sheet on diabetes on diabetes. They have 25.8 million people with diabetes. They state that 12% of the adults with diabetes (both T1 and T2) use insulin only – that 12% doesn’t count all the kids on MDI. 12% of 25 million is 3 million people using insulin – that is a far cry from 250,000 people using pumps.
To TS
I agree that's it's much ado about not much. However, Those of us with impaired memories use tools in order to be responsible for ourselves, so just keep your judgments to yourself. Yes, I use my watch. Some nights I stand in front of my insulin drawer trying to remember whether or not I'd taken my Lantus. I have remembered wrong a couple of times, so I come up with other tricks.
I'm with you Kelly. Although I have never used a pump, I have no desire to have one. I am on MDI and prefer to take my shot and know there was no kinking the line or an empty resovoir that I was unaware of. I also don't want to be tethered to anything 24/7.
I used one but there were too many problems with it. My A1c went up. I had 2 pumps break and had to be replaced in 8 months. I build up scar tissue easily and that caused problems. Apidra doesn't last long in the cartridge and I had to change that out every day and a half or my BS shot up. The tubing came off the pump when I was sleeping & my BS would go up. It really was not worth it to me.
Add me to the not wanting a pump group. Scar tissue, pump & set failures, the expense & waste, no thanks.
Really? Why are you no longer interested in pumps? I’m interested because I’m currently on MDI and will be starting a pump tomorrow…can’t wait to not have 4 pricks a day
There are a long list of reasons! Animas had to replace two pumps in the first 8 months. After the 2nd one died, I decided that was it. The first one was spitting out too much insulin and almost killed me. I am apparently allergic to Teflon so had problems in the beginning with that and had to switch to steel sets. It was rare that I had a site last 48 hours. My body just seems to reject foreign objects in it. Even though I rotated sites, I was building up scar tissue very quickly. Rotating sites was easy because I had red dots all over me so you knew where a site had been for two weeks. My A1c went up on the pump because of all the problems.