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Foreign. Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections in the News. I'm Stacey Sims and in these shorter episodes we bring you the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now. This is our first in the news of 2026. So I'm going to do some short headlines here and then I'm going to get to five predictions I have for the new year. And please note, going forward in the news, we'll be moving to Tuesdays. We're going to be rotating these shorter episodes with our longer interview episodes, but it's all going to be on Tuesdays from now on. Okay? Our top story this week, a large new study suggests that statins may help more people with type 2 than previously thought. Researchers found that the cholesterol lowering drugs reduced the risk of death and serious heart events not only in high risk patients, but but also in those considered low risk. Adults with type 2 who took the medications were less likely to die from any cause and less likely to experience major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks or serious heart related complications. People taking Eli Lilly's next generation GLP1 drug, ritatrutide, shed more pounds than any other weight loss drug during a late stage trial. Patients using the highest dose of the once weekly shot over the course of 68 weeks lost an average of up to 71 pounds at the end of the phase 3 trial. During this time, patients on the 12 milligram dose shed an average of 28% of their body weight. That's more than the average achieved with Zepbound or WeGovy, and more than 23% lost at least 35% of their initial weight. However, more than 12% lost so much weight and experienced other adverse events and that they stopped taking the drug. And over 20% of people on the highest dose also had a condition that makes touching the skin painful. Ritatrutide also reduced arthritic knee pain by an average of 75% and significantly improved physical ability. Additional results from this trial, which includes a lower dose of 4mg in addition to 9 and 12 and the placebo are expected next year. Medtronic's planned diabetes device spinoff, Minimed, has filed for an initial public offering. Medtronic announced back in May of last year that it's going to spin off its diabetes business. In this release, Minimed says it is the only company that sells all parts of an integrated diabetes management system and they're developing products like a patch pump, Minimed Fit and launching its Simplera CGM sensor. MiniMed aims to file for FDA approval for that patch pump by fall of this year, Tandem Diabetes launches its T Slim mobile app for Android and iOS in Canada. This will let users deliver Ebolas from their smartphone. They can also wirelessly upload pumped data to the cloud based Tandem source platform. Tandem got Health Canada authorization for the mobile app in September. You should be able to access it there now. Rates of gestational diabetes in the US rose every year from 2016 to 2024 with a total 36% jump in that nine year period. This data comes from the national center for Health Statistics and it showed that gestational diabetes rose among all racial and ethnic groups, but with significant differences among them. This was a huge study. 12 million moms who gave birth between January 1st of 2016 and December 31st of 2024 mean age of 27 years at delivery. Scientists say they have found a previously unrecognized form of diabetes that appears in infancy. Using DNA sequencing and new stem cell research. They say that changes in one particular gene are responsible for this rare type of neonatal diabetes. Diabetes can emerge in some babies within the first six months of life and in more than 85% of these cases the cause lies in inherited genetic mutations. A separate form of diabetes is now recognized by the International Diabetes Federation. This is an official fifth form of diabetes. After decades of controversy about this, type 5 diabetes is rarely discussed or researched, although we have talked about it here a couple of times. It's thought to impact up to 25 million people worldwide, especially those in low and middle income nations where access to care is limited. It was first described in 1955 and type 5 seems to stem from nutrient deficiency. Insulin resistance does not seem to be the primary cause of this, but existing treatments may not help. In fact, they may even harm. Those are some of the headlines we are following this week. But I want to take a minute because this is our first show of 2026 and make some predictions. What will we be talking about for diabetes news this year? I got five for you. My first prediction is all about continuous ketone monitoring. We told you in 2025 that Abbott was partnering with some pump companies for its future dual glucose ketone sensors and most people I've talked to expect this to be approved, possibly released in the second half of 2026. Dexcom's also working on this, but it sounds like Abbott will be the first to market. I know a lot of you are saying like why do we need this? It's easy to check for ketones now with a finger stick and a ketone monitor or just peeing on the stick. But I've told this story before. If you've ever had to wring out a cotton ball that you stuck into your baby's diaper to collect urine so you can check ketones, you've got know this is a pretty big deal. I would have loved to have had that. Convenience is one reason why. But it's very important for medications that doctors are reluctant to prescribe and for medications the FDA has been reluctant to approve because they can cause ketones with normal blood sugars, specifically sodaglyphazin. Sodaglyphazin has been shown to improve glucose control as an adjunct to insulin for adults with type 1 and chronic kidney disease. But it raises the risk of DKA to a level the FDA found unacceptable. But if you can monitor for ketones 24, 7, I think it's gonna be a game changer, not just for this drug, but for many others. And there's some applications we may not have even thought about. It'll be interesting to see how the company markets it and how the community uses it. All right, my second prediction. I think the FDA is gonna approve a non invasive glucose monitor this year and I think we're gonna see a commercial launch very soon after. Will it work? Great question. I don't think it'll work well enough to dose insulin. We certainly aren't seeing anything like that in any clinical trials. I don't think it'll work well enough to rely on for any medication. You know, think Ozempic or Zepbound, stuff like that. But there are so many of these devices in the pipeline. I do think one of them is going to just break through this year. I also think it will be released with some kind of label. It won't say like for entertainment purposes only, although it probably should. It'll say like observational use only or, or something like that. Even so, everyone you know is going to send you every article and post about this, whatever it turns out to be, and you're going to have to decide how much you feel like educating about the ins and outs of glucose monitoring. I don't think this is going to be any kind of mainstream watch. We're not going to see like an Apple watch suddenly monitor your blood glucose or, you know, a Samsung or an Android. It's going to be a company, you know, one of the companies we've covered in the last several years. But that, honestly, you've never heard of, most likely. I can't even think of the companies that we've covered. There've been so many who have promised this over the last five to 10 years. One scenario though, that I think is really intriguing is that they would get approval for this and then never come to market. And I know you're thinking, like what? Why would they do that? But once there is an FDA approved non invasive glucose monitor, the money is going to pour into that company. It's possible they will just sell to another company that could shelve it or use it for parts or that the company that gets the approval will take the money and quietly back away. My third prediction is a little bit more optimistic. It is inhaled insulin for kids. This is less of a prediction and more of just what I'm watching because Afrezza inhaled insulin is in front of the FDA right now awaiting a pediatric approval. So a decision on that is expected this year. We did help recruit for the inhale trial at some of our early mom's night out events. And it was very interesting seeing the reactions of the moms to inhaled insulin. Cause this has been on the market since 2014 for adults, right? More than 10 years. But the uptake, I mean anecdotally has been pretty slow. The moms I talked to were very excited about this and you know, you can see why. Fewer needles for kids. And I do wonder if the conversation around Afrezza will get some new steam behind it if this approval comes through in both adult and pediatric communities. Now, you do still have to take a shot of long acting. This isn't a totally no shot routine, but you know, Benny, my son has used Afrezza with a pump to knock down a high when something goes wrong or you know, a tough to bolus meal like pizza or, you know, a lot of rice. How we eat Indian food. I'm really closely watching this one. All right, prediction number four, GLP medications for Type one. And this is a good news, bad news prediction. I'm very excited about what we may see in 2026 for GLP meds and type 1. We are talking about this in the podcast episode coming up this Tuesday. Now, it might not be the year we get approval, although I think there's a good chance. But we will see some studies conclude this is a prediction that semaglutide and tirzepatide are safe and effective as an additional therapy with insulin for people with type 1. As we all know, a lot of folks with type 1 are already taking these. I know a lot of you as you listen, are already taking these medications, but you need FDA approval for insurance coverage. There will probably be some warnings, but There may be some reluctance, but I do think the studies are going to show that it works very, very well. But you need FDA approval for insurance coverage. Unfortunately. I also think this might be the year we start to see some public backlash against these medications. And I don't just mean like, oh, these celebrities are getting too thin. I mean, already one in eight Americans is taking one. And with the approval of a semaglutide pill and the relentless marketing from questionable outlets, I have been getting email nonstop to take this stuff for New Year's from everything from hims and hers. Right? You've seen those to Weight Watchers. Everybody wants me to start taking these. I know I'm like the target market to take it without any pre existing conditions. It's wild the amount of spam I'm getting. But with all of that, even more people will start taking them. And they are very powerful medications. As you know, they have side effects. They are not for everyone. And the more people that take this without a real doctor helping them and without really needing them, the more bad stuff is going to happen and the more scary news stories will be shared. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed. We don't see some kind of warnings come out that scare people for whom these drugs could be life changing in a very good way. The diabetes community. And finally, prediction number five, AI slope in new places. I mean, this stuff is already inescapable on social media. Like where else could it go? But think about it. Mostly what you've seen has been images of babies and puppies, people animating themselves into Christmas backgrounds. On LinkedIn you can see a lot of ChatGPT generated written posts, but I am seeing this more and more in diabetes Facebook groups, specifically mom groups, to talk about what is supposedly the lived experience of of these parents and supposedly their genuine thoughts. There are a few people posting all of the time with these long drawn out essays. Now, full disclosure, I use ChatGPT not to write my posts or my newsletters or my episodes, but I do find it helpful in some ways. If we're being honest here, I use it to suggest email subject lines or podcast episode titles. I rarely use what it suggests word for word, but it can be helpful to get me focused. But once you start using these AI chatbots, you can recognize the writing and the patterns. Do I know for sure though? I don't. So I'm not confronting anybody online right now. I'm not going into these groups and saying, you know, your story about last night treating a low really sounds like chatgpt I mean, I think that would be terrible, but I don't know what to do about this. Part of me feels like maybe it's not hurting anybody, but then I know it is. This AI stuff is making us all so dumb when it's used in this way. Look, if something you read resonates with you and it makes you feel stronger, go for it, right? Lean in. But if it makes you feel bad and guilty and inadequate, just stop. Stop following. Don't worry about that person. Don't worry about whether it's even AI. My advice? Get yourself some human beings around you. And I know that's a lot tougher than scrolling, but it is infinitely more rewarding. So my conclusion of this prediction is that we are going to see a demand for much more in person connection. Whether it's two people at a coffee shop talking about type one or it's a hundred people at a Mom's Night out event. And I promise you, I don't mean that as a promo for my events, but I really think we're all better off and are looking toward more in person stuff. So that's my final prediction that AI and Slop is gonna lead us to more in person good times. And that is it for in the news and predictions for 2026. We'll bookmark this. We'll see what happens. We'll visit it again in 2027. In the meantime, have a happy and healthy start to this year. And above all, as always, be kind to yourself. Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Sims Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs Av Sam.