← Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
In the News... Islet cell transplants update, implantable insulin pump moves forward, Olympics monitored GLP-1s and more!
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From the very beginning, they mean everything to you. And that means you'd do anything for them, especially if they're at risk. So when it comes to type 1 diabetes, screen it like you mean it. Even if just one person in your family has type one, you are up to 15 times more likely to get it, too. Screen it like you mean it, because one blood test could help you spot type 1 long before you need insulin. Talk to your doctor about how to screen for type 1 diabetes because. Because the more you know, the more you can do. So don't wait. Visit screen for type1.com to learn more. Again, that's screenfortype1.com. Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections. I'm your host, Stacey Sims. Always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. And this is one of our in the News episodes where we're bringing you the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now. A reminder, you can find the sources and links and a transcript for every story mentioned here. Just go to the Show Notes wherever you are listening to this episode. It should be available in just about every podcast platform. But if not, every episode has its own homepage over at our website, diabetes-connections.com My voice is a little rough today. I am just back from mom's night out. D.C. i'll be honest, I am exhausted, but it is the best kind of tired. We had an incredible time and we got out of there just before the snow started. So we did time it well. But I was so happy to meet everybody. Hello to anybody joining us from that event and I really hope you can join us in Nashville. That is March 6th and 7th coming up in less than two weeks. And a reminder that we have our first club 1921 of the year in Nashville. That's March 5th. And that is our educational dinner series. This one is for healthcare professionals and patient leaders, CDCes, diabetes educators, endocrinologists, healthcare professionals in the diabetes space, folks who work at diabetes camp. If you volunteer in the diabetes space, that's what I'm talking about with patient leaders, of course, you know, influencers in the area. If you're not sure, reach out, like, let me know. We would love to have you there. We are also going to be opening registration very soon. It may be open already for our Club 1921 in Atlanta that is April 15th. We have six of these in the first half of the year. Club 1921 is free and all of the information is over@diabetes-connections.com. just click on the Events tab. Okay, our top story this week, quite a few stories looking at a functional cure for type 1, an immune system reset a limited type 1 in mice in a study conducted at Stanford Medicine without immune suppressant medications. Now this was a combined transplant of blood stem cells and pancreatic islet cells from a donor whose immune profile did not match the recipient. The dual transplant approach both restored insulin production and and retrained the immune system. There are some big challenges here because pancreatic islets can only be obtained after the death of the donor. And in this study, the blood stem cells needed to come from the very same person as the islets. The researchers say they're working on different solutions, including generating large number of islet cells in the lab or finding ways to increase the function and survival of transplanted donor islet cells. Very promising. Very, very early. An electronic implant interlaced with islet cells is being looked at to treat type 1. This is university of Pennsylvania and engineers at Harvard University. They combined stem cell biology with what they call soft electronics. They inserted an ultra thin flexible mesh of conductive wires thinner than a human hair, into developing pancreatic tissue. The electronics can record signals produced by the cells that control insulin release and and deliver small pulses of electricity back to the cells. And this changed the behavior of the cells. They began to behave more like mature and functional islets again very early on here. And the transplanted cells still need to be protected from being attacked by the immune system. Last fall we told you about promising results from Eladon's drug to prevent islet transplantation rejection in type 1. The first six patients no longer had to inject or infuse insulin. The trials are continuing and this month one of the patients, Katie Beth Hand, began posting about her experiences one month in on social media. I'm sure you have seen this in your feed. She says she is off basal insulin already and in range 99% of the time. And she's also encouraging people to learn more about the Islet Act. This is a bill introduced last fall which would change the wording on pancreatic cell transplants. The bill's sponsors say the problem here is that islets are classified as drugs rather than organs, making transplantations difficult for medical teams due to accessibility. And insurance companies are also less likely to provide reimbursements for the treatment here. The official journal of the Transplantation Society estimates the cost at about $140,000 per patient. This bill went to a Senate committee in early November. No other action has been taken since then. Big change if you use Zepbound, the obesity drug is now available in a multi dose quick pen. This is a month worth of doses in a single pen. It is multi dose. That means you can adjust it cash paying patients can now get it on the company's direct to consumer website Lillydirect. Until now you can only get Zepbound in a single dose auto injector or a single dose vial. The FDA approved the label expansion here. The quick pen is already used for other drugs such as Lilly's diabetes medication Manjaro. It's the same medication as Zepbound. You know that they're both Tirzepatide for years researchers have observed that people who live at high elevations tend to develop diabetes less often than those at sea level. They didn't really know why though. Now they think that in low oxygen environments red blood cells begin absorbing large amounts of glucose from the bloodstream and this seems to stay in effect for weeks or months after you return to normal oxygen levels. These researchers have gone as far to develop a drug. They call it Hypoxistat and it mimics low oxygen exposure in mouse models of diabetes. The medication completely reversed high blood sugar and outperformed existing treatments. Tech and Device Updates Now Portal Diabetes gets FDA Breakthrough Device designation for its implantable insulin pump system. This is not just a device that is implanted into the abdomen, but also a new temperature stable insulin. It will work with quote, modern CGM technology with a fully closed loop and aims to develop a functional cure for type 1. The reports are all saying that Portal system is the very first in the U.S. but there was an implantable pump developed and used by about 500 people worldwide, including about 100 in the US by Minimed. Medtronic bought the company in 2007. They stopped that program, but there are reports that people are still using it. Portal Diabetes expects to begin clinical trials on its System late in 2027. Sequel MedTech and Sensonics announced the full US launch of their CGM and insulin pump integration. That is the Eversense CGM and the Twist pump. That makes the twist available with two compatible CGMs. It also pairs with the Abbott Freestyle Libre 3 Plus sensor. Eversense 365 is an implantable CGM. It rests under the skin for a year. It does have an external transmitter, but the company is working on making the whole system implantable right back with a Dexcom update and a look at which type of diet reduces insulin use overall right after this. Did you hear the pod drop. Did you know all the sounds used to make that song come from a site change with the Omnipod 5 automated insulin delivery system? Pretty cool, huh? With Omnipod 5 pump, site changes are simple. The pod lasts up to 3 days, 72 hours, and to change it, you just fill up the pod with insulin, place it on your body, tap a few buttons in the Omnipod 5 app, and you're ready to go. There's no tubing to prime like with traditional insulin pumps, and it's virtually pain free so you never have to see or handle the insertion needle. Want to try Omnipod 5 for yourself? Request a free Omnipod 5 starter kit today by by visiting omnipod.com diabetesconnections terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Back to the news now. Dexcom is watching for expanded Medicare coverage of its CGM for people with type 2 who don't take insulin. CEO Jake Leach told investors last week the company's waiting for a coverage decision. In the meantime, the ADA updated its guidelines last year to recommend clinicians consider using CGM for type 2 when patients are taking glucose lowering medications other than insulin. Medtronic separation of minimed is not yet complete, but continues to move forward. The company has submitted their next pump, Minimed flex, to the FDA. This is a pump smaller than the 780G, but uses the same reservoirs and infusion sets. It will also work with both the Simplera Sync and Instinct sensors. Medtronic also began a US pivotal study for Vivera, its third generation algorithm for automated insulin delivery. It also remains set to submit the minimed Fit Patch pump to the FDA by fall. A study modeling how genes may influence a child's body mass index over time finds that BMA at age 10 and overall growth rate between ages 1 and 18 might be very important factors. The two are more likely linked to diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease in later life. This was a UK study. A low fat vegan diet without cutting calories or carbs may help people with type 1 significantly reduce how much insulin they need. In a new analysis published in BMC Nutrition, participants following the plant based plan lowered their daily insulin use by 28% while those on a portion controlled diet saw no meaningful change. Cholesterol levels and kidney function also improved among those following the plant based plants. Interesting little tidbit from these Winter Olympic Games that just concluded. The World Anti Doping Agency was monitoring GLP drug use, the advisory group that makes recommendations about prohibited substances, added semaglutide and tirzepatide to its monitoring program. And that means patterns of use of these drugs will be tracked both in and out of competition and then they will make a recommendation. GLP drug use is not currently prohibited, but that could change because before the next Olympic Games that summer in Los Angeles in 2028. And that is it for in the news. If you like what you heard, please share it. We always appreciate that and we'll be back next week with a long format interview episode. What do you think of this change? Numbers are fantastic for the podcast, so if we're just going by downloads, everybody loves this. But let me know what you think. I really would like to hear from you. You can always reach out stacy@diabetes connections.com thanks to my editor John Buchenis from Audio Editing Solutions. And thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Sims. I'll see you back here soon. Until then, be kind to yourself. Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacy Sims Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged. A very smart doctor told us ages ago, probably close to 19 years ago, when Benny was first diagnosed with diabetes, the person with the most data wins. Along with the most data. You need good data, and the Dexcom G7 CGM systems are the most accurate sensors on the market, and accuracy is what builds confidence. Benny can make decisions about food and activity in real time, and we can easily follow his numbers remotely. The Dexcom Clarity app shows glucose trends and even a projected A1C in as little as two weeks. This isn't just about seeing numbers, it's about understanding them and living better because of it. Find out more at dexcom. Com.