Roundup: News From The Advanced Technologies & Treatments For Diabetes Conference

Roundup: News from the Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes conference

Roundup: News from the Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes conference
This week in Paris, companies in the diabetes managment space came together at theAdvanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes conference to share news and, mostly, a lot of efficacy data. It's an exciting time for the space as closed-loop systems that allow people with diabetes to monitor their glucose continuously and automatically manage their insulin dosing get closer and closer to becoming a validated, regulated reality for people with Type 1 diabetes. We didn't make it out to Paris ourselves, but we're covering the news. We've written up some of the bigger stories from the conference earlier this week. Look below for a roundup of other digital health news from the show.
Nonprofit organizationT1D Exchangepublished a major study in Diabetes Care yesterday (and presented the research at the conference). The data re-affirms the FDA's recent clearance ofDexcom's CGM for insulin dosing. The study looked at 226 adult CGM users for six months. Of those, 149 dosed their insulin using the CGM and 77 used a fingerstick glucometer in addition, as is currently required for most CGMs. There was no difference in outcomes between the two groups.
"This study is an important step to support regulatory pathways for the automation of insulin delivery for people with type 1 diabetes, Dana Ball, executive director and co-founder of T1D Exchange, said in a statement. These data are supportive of the recent FDA decision to approve the Dexcom G5 indication for insulin dosing and removes a key obstacle Continue reading

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Asthma drug shows promise in treating obesity and diabetes

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After 12 weeks of taking an anti-inflammatory asthma drug, obese patients with type 2 diabetes (link is external) showed a clinically significant drop in blood glucose.
The drug amlexanox, prescribed in Japan to treat asthma, appeared to free the metabolic system to burn more energy. A subset of patients had improved fatty liver disease and insulin sensitivity, a response seen among those who started the clinical trial with higher levels of inflammation in their fat tissue than others.
While the discovery at Michigan Medicine and the University of California at San Diego (link is external) is not ready for the clinic, it reveals an inflammatory link between obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury and illness, but chronic inflammation caused by obesity is believed to promote insulin resistance, a main feature of diabetes.
“We are beginning to understand the role this form of internal inflammation plays in the development of chronic diseases like diabetes,” says lead study author Elif Oral, M.D., director of the MEND Obesity and Metabolic Disorder Program at Michigan Medicine (link is external). “Ultimately we may be able to personalize therapy based on the degree of inflammation present at baseline – which is a new concept.”
Oral is an endocrinologist and translational scientist at Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan (link is external)’s academic medical center where the clinical trial was conducted and analyzed.
Tissue analysis was led by study author Alan R. Saltiel, Ph.D. (link is exter Continue reading

Tackling Travel with Diabetes: Airport & Plane Food Secrets

Tackling Travel with Diabetes: Airport & Plane Food Secrets
Adam, what do you eat when youre on a plane? My six go-to strategies from hundreds of flights and airports
Q: Hi Adam, like you, I also travel a lot. What do you eat when youre on a plane for so many hours? I tend to go high as the plane food is not what people with diabetes need. What do you think? F.A. (Lisbon, Portugal)
A: Thanks for this great question its one I think about a lot! I spend hundreds of hours every year in airports and on planes. But before I get into tactics, there are two ground rules I try to remember:
1. If Im not hungry, I DO NOT EAT. This is especially critical while traveling, since:
A. Junk food is everywhere and continuously tempting in airports. There are so many opportunities to make unhelpful food choices, especially when I see food but am not actually hungry.
B. Im more likely to be sleep deprived and stressed while traveling, which drive insulin resistance, sugar/carb cravings, and worse food choices. If I fall into such choices when Im not even hungry, high blood sugars are almost guaranteed.
2. I can avoid Diabetes Landmines with a pre-loaded plan of attack. How can I set up a Bright Spot choice instead? No matter the food environment I find myself in, I can usually change my default options by thinking ahead. Travel does bringa lot of uncertainty, but much of it is actually quite predictable I know what restaurants and snack options will be in my nearby airport, I know Ill be able to access my carry-on bag, etc.
With those ground rules in mind, here are six tools I us Continue reading

National Day Rally 2017: Beating diabetes starts with small steps, says PM Lee

Eat right, exercise more, get your health checked regularly and think twice about picking up that can of soft drink.
These are Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's words of advice to Singaporeans who want to beat diabetes.
"It takes effort and discipline, but it can be done," he told the audience during yesterday's National Day Rally, where he devoted a third of his time to speaking about the chronic illness.
Mr Lee, who has a family history of the disease, said winning the war against diabetes often starts with the little things.
"Genes play a part, but your choices make a difference," he said, sharing how he tries to make healthier choices in everyday life.
"Wholemeal bread instead of white bread. Teh-o kosong instead of teh.
"But if the dessert is chendol, it can't be helped. I will just take a little bit."
The average Singaporean can expect to live up to the age of 82 - among the longest lifespans in the world.
But many will spend around eight years of this time in poor health, with the culprit often being diabetes, Mr Lee said.
While diabetes is often a silent illness, its complications - which range from kidney failure to blindness and even impotency in men - can prove debilitating.
Roughly 400,000 Singapore residents have diabetes.
A significant proportion of them do not even know it.
Diabetes also becomes more prevalent as people age, and is estimated to affect nearly a third of Singaporeans aged over 60.
The Government alone cannot solve this problem, Mr Lee said. It is a matter of personal responsibility.
The first thing people should do is find out where they stand b Continue reading

Growth in diabetes products lags, but Medtronic earnings solid

Medtronic could be making a lot more money from its diabetes business right now, but executives are confident they can ramp up manufacturing to address a supply shortfall for the Minnesota-run companys glucose sensors in the coming months.
Insulin pumps and sensors make up the smallest stand-alone product group at Medtronic, with less than $500 million in revenue, but the diabetes division had been expected to increase sales by as much as 12 percent this year.
Instead, as the company announced better than expected fiscal first quarter earnings on Tuesday, it pared diabetes guidance to 1-to-4 percent growth for its fiscal year ending in April 2018.
Demand for Medtronics latest body-worn blood-glucose sensors has more than doubled in two years, which has temporarily outstripped our production capacity, chief executive Omar Ishrak said during a quarterly earnings call Tuesday. We accelerated plans to increase sensor production capacity last year, but these lines are not expected to be ready for commercial production until our fourth quarter, which ends in April.
Until then, the company is prioritizing its supply of sensors for customers who already have a Medtronic insulin pump that works with the sensor, which cuts into the supply of sensors available for high-revenue sales to new patients.
Growth in the diabetes division was slower than expected in the quarter, noted Edward Jones research analyst John Boylan. But once they can match supply with demand, which we think they will do over time, this will be long-forgotten, he said.
Medtronic shares dipped about 2 percent Continue reading