In the News...Top Stories from ADA and more!

It's In the News.. a look at the top headlines and stories in the diabetes community. This week's top stories: loads of news from American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions, GLP1 for T1D, Tech updates, diabetes in space, and more!

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Episode transcription with links:

Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and every other Friday I bring you a short episode with the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now.

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Top story – looking back at The American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions conference. I won’t recap everything here – but I’ll link up to a few more comprehensive article. Here’s just a taste!

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A single infusion of a new stem cell-based treatment helped 10 out of 12 people with severe type 1 diabetes stop using insulin, researchers report.

The treatment, called zimislecel, was made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It’s an infusion of lab-grown islet cells. A year after getting the therapy, 10 patients no longer needed insulin shots. The other two were able to reduce how much insulin they needed.  The treatment requires patients to take immunosuppressive drugs, which may raise the risk of infections or cancer in the long run, experts said.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-06-24/stem-cell-treatment-may-free-some-with-type-1-diabetes-from-insulin

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New study shows inhaled insulin is safe and effective for children with type 1 diabetes. This is Mannkind’s Afrezza, which takes the place of rapid-acting mealtime insulin.

Findings indicate that inhaled insulin delivers glycemic control comparable to injected rapid-acting insulin. Inhaled insulin was also associated with less weight gain and slightly higher patient and parent preference scores. These findings add to outcomes shared from INHALE 1 late last year.

Based on the findings of the inhaled insulin study, MannKind looks to seek FDA approval to expand Afrezza’s indication to children. The company also aims to evaluate inhaled insulin at diagnosis and in automated insulin delivery systems in additional studies.

https://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/study-mannkind-inhaled-insulin-safe-effective-children/

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Positive outcomes in two different studies looking at GLP 1 medications for type 1. Semaglutide – brand name Ozempic or Wegovy - reduced glucose levels and weight among patients with type 1 diabetes and obesity. 26-week, double-blind trial of 72 adults, those taking Ozempic spent

• More than 70% time spent in sensor glucose range (70-180 mg/dL)
• Less than 4% time spent in hypoglycemia (<70 mg/dL)
• At least 5% body weight reduction

Although none of the GLP-1 receptor agonists are approved for type 1 diabetes -- largely due to safety concerns about hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis -- Shah pointed to real-world dataopens in a new tab or window that showed increasing off-label use in this population.

Half of the patients in the semaglutide group achieved an HbA1c level below 7% at 26 weeks compared with 22.2% of those in the placebo group. Semaglutide patients also had greater weight loss (least-squares mean group difference -8.8 kg [19.4 lb]).

As for adverse events of special interest for a type 1 diabetes population, rates of severe hypoglycemia were low (5.5% vs 5.5%) and no cases of diabetic ketoacidosis occurred.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ada/116206

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Tirzepatide – brand name Monjourno or Zepbound has demonstrated promising safety and efficacy in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in new data from a longitudinal, retrospective study.¹

after 3 months, participants experienced a significant 6.7 kg reduction in mean weight (95% CI, 5.4-8.0 kg; P <.001; n = 36) and were able to reduce mean total daily insulin dose by 21.6 units (95% CI, 12.8-30.4; P <.001; n = 28), mostly driven by reduction in bolus doses (95% CI, 14.4 units; 6.6-22.2; P = .001; n=26.) Furthermore, time in range (70-180 mg/dl) also significantly increased from 54.9% to 60.8% (95% CI, 0.0-11.8; P = .048l; n = 36).¹

“In people with T1D and obesity, there's quite a lot of off label GLP-1 agonist use and tirzepatide, as a proportion of that, is increasing,” Berry told HCPLive. “People found it really beneficial, but I would caution that it's retrospective data and randomized control trials are needed to confirm those benefits that we found.

https://www.hcplive.com/view/off-label-tirzepatide-early-promise-type-1-diabetes-berry

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Looking ahead, though, a daily pill looks to be about as effective as a weekly Ozempic injection at inducing weight loss and lowering blood sugar. This is orforglipron.

Like other GLP-1 medications, it mimics a hormone that regulates blood sugar and curbs appetite.  Long way to go here for approval, but this and many other medications, are being raced to market to try to catch up with the established medications.. it’s thought one in 8 americans are now taking a GLP 1

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/well/new-weight-loss-drugs.html

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Sequel Med Tech has a launch date for its twiist system – coming up quick, July 7^th. The twist uses Tidepool loop software

Sequel announced in March that it agreed with Abbott to make the Libre system its first continuous glucose monitor (CGM) integration for twiist. The company also recently struck an agreement with Abbott to integrate with a future dual glucose-ketone sensor and has a deal to integrate the pump with the Senseonics Eversense 365 year-long implantable CGM.

https://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/sequel-launch-twiist-aid-system-july/

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Medronic spins off ti’s diabetes business, which will now be called Minimed. At ADA they showed off their next tubed pump, the MiniMed 8-series, which is about half the size of its current 780G pump, has no screen and is controlled by a phone.

 

Medtronic also showcased a patch pump in development. It  has a semi-durable design with a rechargeable battery, a larger insulin reservoir, at 300 units, and a longer wear time, at seven days. No timeline for that, but likely not before 2027,

Beta Bionics also showed a prototype for their new patch pump – they’re calling it Mint. This is also a mix of disposable and reusable components, last three days and take up to 200 units of insulin.

You’ll hear from Tandem in our next episode, out this Tuesday.. they’re working on a tubeless option for its smaller Mobi insulin pumps and a separate patch pump called Sigi, which will be rechargeable and come with pre-filled insulin cartridges. The slim x3 is still also in the works.

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On the CGM front.. Abbot has signed deals for their future sensor that can detect glucose and ketones.  They’re partnering with Tandem, Sequel and Beta Bionics so far.

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Dexcom is also working on monitoring ketones.. that will likely happen with the G8, now in trials.

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The Eversense CGM in the mix, showing off the plans they shared with us just a couple of weeks ago. Right now the Eversnese can stay on for a year.. next up is Gemini which is fully implantable – so no charging - but still needs a transmitter on top. Further out is Freedom, which would do away with the transmitter on top of the skin.

https://www.medtechdive.com/news/ada-conference-diabetes-new-pumps-cgms/751482/

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Once weekly basal insulin looks just as safe as daily basal in people with type 2.

This is Lilly’s efsitora insulin..  Novo Nordisk, has received approval for use in adults with diabetes by the European Union and by Canada. Both companies hope to get approval in the US.

 

 

 

 

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/once-weekly-efsitora-noninferior-daily-insulin-t2d-2025a1000gm1 XX

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Dexcom announces what it calls enhancements to event logging. You can add a photo to your meals and AI will populate meal descriptions. It won’t carb count, but it will identify the food. I’ve seen some demonstrations of this and it seems to work pretty well. You can log exercise as well and see how the food and activity will impact blood sugar. I can’t wait to ask Dexcom about this – I’ve got to believe their using all the data to work on a carb counting AI app here – where you’d just a take a photo and get the carb count OR you’d just take a photo and an AID system would know what to do.. that’s my speculation.

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An American Diabetes Association expert panel that Cusi helped lead recently published a consensus report that urges physicians to screen people with Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes for a liver disease triggered by accumulated fat in the organ.

 

The condition — metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic disease, or MASLD — often has no early symptoms but can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer without early diagnosis and intervention. The disorder, which can occur in those with or without diabetes, was previously known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

 

Liver screening is especially urgent, the report said, especially for those who have obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Some individuals with Type 1 diabetes who have obesity are also at risk.

 

Early intervention, however, can reduce and even reverse the risk. Interventions include lifestyle and dietary changes, weight management and glucose-lowering medications.

https://ufhealth.org/news/2025/new-report-recommends-liver-screening-for-those-with-type-2-diabetes

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Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), which lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. One of the mission’s most significant research initiatives, Suite Ride, is a collaboration between Abu Dhabi-headquartered Burjeel Holdings and Axiom Space, with the potential to transform the future of space travel for astronauts with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), a condition historically considered disqualifying for space missions.

The Suite Ride study will utilise Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs), which have become the standard for glucose monitoring in individuals with diabetes. These devices will be tested to ensure their accuracy in microgravity, providing real-time data that will ultimately support the health of astronauts with IDDM. The comprehensive preflight, inflight and postflight protocols will employ various testing methods to validate these technologies. The Ax-4 mission plans to look at insulin exposure in microgravity to assess the potency and stability of the drug product upon its return to Earth.

https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-led-diabetes-research-takes-off-to-space-on-axiom-mission-4-1.500176357