Artificial pancreas to revolutionise diabetes care
In a significant breakthrough for people with diabetes, JDRF has formed a partnership with two international companies to produce an automated diabetes management system to eliminate the need for insulin injections and dramatically reduce the risk of life threatening health complications.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has today announced an innovative partnership to develop an automated system to help people with type 1 diabetes better control their disease – the first step on the path to what would be among the most revolutionary advancements in treating type 1 diabetes: the development of an artificial pancreas, a fully automated system to dispense insulin to patients based on real-time changes in blood sugar levels.
JDRF has formed a partnership with Animas, a Johnson & Johnson company and a leading manufacturer and distributor of insulin delivery and glucose management systems.
The objectives of the partnership, a major industry initiative within the JDRF Artificial Pancreas Project, are to not only produce the automated system but to conduct extensive clinical trials for safety and efficacy and submit the product to the regulatory authorities for approval and subsidy.
“If successful, the development of this first-generation system would begin the process of automating how people with diabetes manage their blood sugar,” said Mike Wilson Chief Executive Officer of JDRF Australia.
“Ultimately, an artificial pancreas will deliver insulin as needed, minute-by-minute, throughout the day to maintain blood sugars within a target range. But even this early system could bring dramatic changes in the quality of life for the 140,000 Australians living with type 1 diabetes, beginning to free kids and adults from testing, calculating and treating themselves throughout the day.”
Dr. Alan Lewis, CEO and President of JDRF International noted that “JDRF will provide $US8 million in funding over the next three years for this project, with a target of having a first-generation system ready within four years.”
Currently, type 1 diabetes is managed with insulin injected from a needle or an insulin pump and regular fingerprick blood tests. Unfortunately, blood glucose levels can change rapidly in response to hundreds of different triggers making it extremely difficult to accurately predict the amount of insulin required.
This first-generation system will be partially automated, utilising an insulin pump connected wirelessly with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). The CGM continuously reads glucose levels through a sensor with a hair-thin sensor wire inserted just below the skin, typically on the abdomen. The sensor would transmit those readings to the insulin pump, which delivers insulin through a small tube or patch on the body. The pump would house a sophisticated computer program that will address safety concerns during the day and night, by helping prevent hypoglycemia and extreme hyperglycemia. It would slow or stop insulin delivery if it detected blood sugar was going too low and would increase insulin delivery if blood sugar was too high.
For example, the system would automatically discontinue insulin delivery to help prevent hypoglycemia, and then automatically resume insulin delivery based on a specific time interval (i.e., 2 hours) and/or glucose concentration. It will also automatically increase insulin delivery to reduce the amount of time spent in the hyperglycemic range and return to a pre-set basal rate once glucose concentrations have returned to acceptable levels.
In this early version of an automated diabetes management system, the patient would still need to manually instruct the pump to deliver insulin at times, (i.e. around meals). But this “hypoglycemia-hyperglycemia minimiser” system would represent a significant step forward in diabetes management, and could provide immediate benefits in terms of blood sugar control, by minimising dangerous highs and lows.
The Artificial Pancreas Project was established by JDRF in 2005. You can find out more at www.jdrf.org/artificialpancreas.
You can help speed up the process of bringing the Artificial Pancreas to reality. Support the Artificial Pancreas Project by giving to JDRF. Every dollar will help bring research to reality.
Fantastic News !! Here's hoping this flies through testing and is available soon … my 10 year old son is hanging out for the day when his BGL's can be considered normal …
As a newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic (diagnosed in September 2009) this is fantastic news! Lets hope more and more money can be put forward to find a cure for Type 1.
This is such positive news. As a type 1 diabetic for the last 28 years, I have seen a lot of progress in the management of this condition, this however is the dawning of a new era in diabetes management. Thanks JDRF!
How very positive and exciting this breakthrough is! For my 10 year old son that has been a type 1 Diabetic for past 6 years that hopes every day for a cure before he is a teenager. So reassuring also for parents that worry everyday about life time complications and keeping sugar readings at safe levels to avoid these complications!
cant wait for this to happen as my son is a diabetic and could really help him now
That news has made my day!!!!!!! My daughter is 14 and has had diabetes now for 9 years, and has been on a pump for 1 year. It changed our whole life, so i can imagine what this new technology would be like. We have just got home form doing a study @ Fremantle Hospital for juvenile diabetes how bizzare is that.
~BleSSingS To ALL~
As my son was diagnosed 2 years ago and is now going through the stage of "why me and why can't I be like the other boys". This is the best news I have heard. Lets hope they receive all the support and start working on it. Thanks JDRF. Made my day!!!!
This certainly looks good and I can immediately see another possible benefit not mentioned. If you are Type 1 and you need any tests which involve fasting for 12 hours or so you basically need to stay in hospital for the duration – otherwise you run the risk of going hypoglycaemic and therefore needing to eat something or going hyperglycaemic and needing to top up your insulin an exact amount on an empty stomach. Not easy to do!
This system suggests you could achieve stable BSLs independently of food intake. I look forward to hearing more!
I was hoping for a cure for my daughter in her lifetime (she is now 13) but this is the next best thing. This will revolutionise diabetes care and increase the rate of positive outcomes… I look forward to more news on this development. Keep up the good work!!
Great news for my 7 year old who was diagnosed August this year! I pray that this kind of technology is available by the time she is a teenager, so that the years of injecting, testing, watching everything that goes in her mouth, is MINIMAL!!! Well done JDRF!
Wow! I was diagnosed with type 1 two years ago at age 22. I was told then that a cure was about 10 years away… I never thought it would happen! What great news for everyone with type 1 and their families. I cannot wait for this to finish testing!
Bogisch, Margaret
This is fantastic news. Our son Adam has been a diabetic since he was 15, and is now coming up to his 30th birthday. He is a father of two, and this breakthrough is fantastic. Thanks JDRF – keep up the good work!
Just cannt wait for this to be available for type 1 diabeties, my daughter is just 4 and was diagonesed two years ago…and now she asks me everytime once my diabeties is cured, can i have this and that for eating
Good news, but please understand that it is only an "improvement" to the existing pump as it still needs manual operation at meal times and does not dispense glucose to stop hypos altogether. It is also worn externally so would still be subject to damage from, heat, cold, water, bumps etc. 4 years is the ETA but don't hold your breath. I dont mean to sound pessimistic. I have seen many prospective "cures" etc in the 31 years I have had diabetes and even taken part in a islet cell transplant which was a dismall failure leaving me with serious ongoing medical problems. The media paints a far brighter picture than the actual truth. I would really like to see it's development progress quickly and have my fingers crossed. Good luck.
Any positive news is good news! Very happy to actually read that real progress being made. My 14 yr old grandson was diagnosed with Type 1 four years ago, and anything that can make his & other T1's life and future brighter is a welcome PLUS!! (Now if something could be done about the accompanying Coeliac disease it would be like…. Nirvana!) Congrats. to JDRF & all those involved with the wonderful work you undertake….. May your God bless….
I have had type 1 diabetes for 42 years and am currently on an insulin pump which is great. The last few years have not been good to me health wise so any new breakthru however small would be great especially as the older and longer you have diabetes the harder it is.
Robyn Tasmania
My 13 yrold son has type 1 since 2003 he is using an insulin pump now which makes life so much easier than injections every day this breakthrough is great news , but a cure would be icing on the cake .
Zoe Massey
I almost cried when i read this article! I am just coming up to my 10 year anniversary of being a Type 1 diabetic and have seena lot of trials and 'improvements' come and go with no real benefits or sign of a real solution. This seems to be the best glimmer of hope in the past 10 years and as a supporter of JDRF in that time i thank you so much for all your hard work, dedication and constancy in doing anything and everything to support us and the cause of finding treatment and a cure to Type 1 diabetes. Thank you.
Hello everyone. After almost 30 years of helping to find a cure for diabetes I am so glad to be alive today to share this wonderful news. We at JDRF are dedicated to finding the ultimate cure and will never ever give up our quest. Rest assured we will continue with our mission until the job is done!
Well it's got to be an improvement on the pancreas my husband keeps telling me he's going to make in the shed! YAHOOOO!! I am very excited!
What fantastic news ! Lets hope JDRF get all the support they need and get this dream come true for our young children, and adults that have to deal with this life threating illness every single day ! Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!
My Daughter is also new to diabetes age 11 type 1 for 9mths she also has "ASD" so this has compounded the problems that type 1 presents, helping her with type1 and her limited understanding. of the day to day management it requires is exhausting.
The pump is and sounds great but not nearly enough to help austic children manage their type 1 so untill we have perhaps the bionice pancreas we will have to stay with the needle, and on going confusion that is Diabetes.
I was diagnosed when I was 12. The doctors kept telling me it wouldn"t be long before a cure would come. I kept hoping but it never came. Robyn Lawler is right it gets hard the longer you have it. I to have been diabetic for 42 years. This is the closest they have been to a cure. This is great news for all diabetics.
Great news, but my young son, just turned 13 on 1st January, struggles with the idea of having anything 'hanging' off him. He would like to be NORMAL again so please NEVER give up on finding a cure for our darling loved ones,
My son Thomas, 8 year old, is happy to hear that a step to the treatment and potential cure is within his teenage years. He has been a diabetic for 7 months and hopes that JDRF continues the mission to an ultimate cure. Thank you JDRF & Animas for making the decision to automate a system of insulin control.
Very hopeful. Suffering from "diabetes burnout" from the intense, never-ending quest to maintain stable BSLs (and infrequently achieving!) for the last 12 years, this is great news.
I'm confused. The phase 1 aim mentioned as the target for 4 years from now sounds to me like systems currently available (http://www.minimed.com/products/insulinpumps/comp... Am I missing something here?
Keep up the good work, but let's be even more ambitious.
Haven`t Medtronic already developed this???Their new Minimed Paradigm Veo System has a wireless CGM as well as an auto shut off mechanism with all the necessary software ie Medtronic Carelink Personal software to enable easy wireless downloads to your computer then on to diab. educator and/or endo.So……………….I have been on a pump for nearly 5yrs and look forward to upgrading to this new technology as well as hoping and praying the govt. will subsidise the CGMs and the electrodes for them
I know what you`re saying Liz I have been type 1 for 41yrs and am so over it it`s just not funny
Thanks great news, will there be trials here in australia and any ideas on the cost its the best news Im so excited our son is 14 Type 1 great news.
I hope for a cure! My son was Diagnosed last year in August 2 days before he turned 10. It would be great for him to have a normal life again..
Hi Linda. our son is nearly 8. has ASD and T1 so we sympathise- life can be very difficult and a double whammy for parents and child alike…all the best
congratulations to JDRF……might be too late for me to have a new pancreas, but how wonderful for all the other Type 1s. Keep up the good work.
I've had diabetes for 18 years (diagnosed when I was 6 months old), and I'm comfortable injecting insulin rather than feeling dependant and attached constantly (via a terrifying connection!) to a pump – so I agree with Janine's son there.
This is a great step forward in technology and definitely good news for a lot of diabetics, but I for one won't be changing anything. Really life isn't half bad as is.
My nine year old daughter switched from needles to the insulin pump this year after having had Type 1 Diabetes for six years. The pump has transformed not only her life but our freedom and spontenaity as a family. It seems to me that this next step of an automated management system would allow individuals with this chronic medical condition to be even less burdened by the constant grind of doing BGL's and trying to predict what their levels are likely to do in the few hours that follow. My daughter would be thrilled to be able to do away with having to do blood glocose tests 6-8 times a day, or at least reduce the number she needed to carry out to manage her levels effectively. Hope it happens sooner rather than later!
pick me pick me… i'll be a guinea pig!!!
I'm 20 years old and have had diabetes for 2 yrs now!!!
This would be a great break through!!!
This is a god send. What fantastic news to here for the new year, i have had type 1 since i was 18 now 25 and my sister was 13 now 15, we are very well controlled, but at the end of the day you get sick of jabbing needles in but know it has to be done, This will make so many peoples lives so much better and help with the stress for parents trying to control thier childs Diabetes, Well done JDRF keep up the great work you have our support.
Hi; I am 19years old. I have had diabetes for 11 years now. I have very bad control, my last HBA1C was 13.7. I will be going on the medtronic insulin & glucose monitoring pump in the next month or two. It is a great thing but why are the supplies for is so expensive? My health insurance covers the $8,000 pump but not the extra things e.g. the glucose monitoring device = $1250 and each needle for that is $75 each and only lasts for 6 days! I hope it can be more avaliable for others who cant afford it.
Has anyone also heard about the patch that releases insulin?
hi stephanie, there is a pump that does glucose monitoring also now. Its from a company called Metronic; Heres the link – http://www.medtronic-diabetes.com.au/
Only problem is you need to be cashed up to have it
Hi Chelley,please read my comment above re Medtronic pumps.I managed to drop my hba1c from 9.5 to 6.3 in barely 3mths.yes it would be great to use the CGM but until the Govt subsidises it it remains out of reach for a lot of us.Go for the new Medtronic pump just talk to your educator/endo about it,they really are good.Good luck
[...] In a significant breakthrough for people with diabetes, JDRF has formed a partnership with two international companies to produce an automated diabetes management system to eliminate the need for insulin injections and dramatically reduce the risk of life threatening health complications. Read more… [...]
Thank you JDRF – you give me hope that my precious 8 year old daughter (diagnosed at 2 yrs old) and so many other precious people will have a life free of T1 and its complications. You and your scientists are in our prayers. GO GET EM – we believe in you!!!
This is a good step but it is just another mechanical device that need calibration for BG. Yet another example of why there will be no cure in the future, there is too much money to be made. this is a $6 billion dollar industry. Do you really think there will be a cure? Look at the jobs, lost pump supplies not ordered, insulin not ordered, etc etc.
Hey Matt are you type 1, by the sounds of it no.If you were you would realise the benefits of a pump.Don`t be so cynical because this IS a major step forward in the treatment and reduction of long term problems associated with this disease.So please back of your comments and hey so what if it needs calibration is that too difficult for someone with an intellect such as yours?