loader from loading.io

In the News.. Amazon Pharmacy automates insulin discounts, A1Cs go down for this group, a wild T2D study, and more!

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

Release Date: 08/25/2023

In the News... Infusion set recall, diabetes & sleep studies, cinnamon clinical trial and more! show art In the News... Infusion set recall, diabetes & sleep studies, cinnamon clinical trial and more!

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

It’s In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: infusion set recall, update on ViaCyte stem cell research, a few new studies look at sleep and diabetes, actual clinical research into cinnamon for type 1 and lots more. Links & transcript below Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Edgepark Medical Supplies from extreme temperatures Learn more about Drive The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: ...

info_outline
Ask Us Anything! Moms’ Night Out Providence Panel with Moira McCarthy & Kerri Sparling show art Ask Us Anything! Moms’ Night Out Providence Panel with Moira McCarthy & Kerri Sparling

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

At Moms' Night Out Providence, I was part of an Ask Us Anything panel that included Moira McCarthy and Kerri Sparling. We had a lot of fun on this panel and a lot of fun at MNO period. If you’re wondering what this event is all about, I think this panel will give you a lot of insight. It’s serious, and humorous, I hope helpful, and it’s all peer to peer – we’re not doctors. Moira McCarthy’s daughter, Lauren, was marking 26 years with T1D during this event! Moira is a ski, adventure and travel writer. A JDRF International Volunteer of the Year and author of six books including,...

info_outline
“I’m never going to stop speaking up” Mila Clarke turned her diabetes misdiagnosis into her mission show art “I’m never going to stop speaking up” Mila Clarke turned her diabetes misdiagnosis into her mission

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

This week, Mila Clark became a popular advocate for type 2 diabetes after her diagnosis in 2016 But she was actually one of the many adults misdiagnosed – she actually lives with LADA. One of the biggest changes she experienced was how her health care providers treated her, they were much more supportive when they realized she had LADA – also called type 1.5. Mila is working to reduce the stigma around all types of diabetes. We talk about her advocacy, her Hangry Woman business, the unique patch pump she’s using and a lot more. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have...

info_outline
Know Your Rights! Navigating the Legal Landscape of Diabetes with Lawyer John Griffin show art Know Your Rights! Navigating the Legal Landscape of Diabetes with Lawyer John Griffin

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

Do you know your rights with diabetes? Our guest this week is John Griffin, a trial lawyer with more than 30 years of advocating in and out of the courtroom. He lives with type 2 himself – this is an eye opening and useful conversation.   Griffin served as National Chair of the Board of the American Diabetes Association in 2011, and is the former Chair of the Association’s Legislative and Regulatory Subcommittee.  Also, if you’ve been given a blood glucose meter you probably know how to use it, but do you know how it works? We’ll explain the chemistry going on...

info_outline
In the News... Levemir to be discontinued, Tandem/G7 integration launches, Beta Bionics coverage, and more! show art In the News... Levemir to be discontinued, Tandem/G7 integration launches, Beta Bionics coverage, and more!

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

It’s In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: Novo Nordisk will discontinue Levemir by the end of 2024, Tandem begins limited launch of software updates that will include Dexcom's G7, Beta Bionics iLet pump will be covered until some pharmacy plans, and lots more! Links and transcript below Find out more about  Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Edgepark Medical Supplies  from extreme temperatures Learn more about  Drive  The best way...

info_outline
Ask Us Anything! Moms’ Night Out Providence Panel with Moira McCarthy & Kerri Sparling show art Ask Us Anything! Moms’ Night Out Providence Panel with Moira McCarthy & Kerri Sparling

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

At Moms' Night Out Providence, I was part of an Ask Us Anything panel that included Moira McCarthy and Kerri Sparling. We had a lot of fun on this panel and a lot of fun at MNO period. If you’re wondering what this event is all about, I think this panel will give you a lot of insight. It’s serious, and humorous, I hope helpful, and it’s all peer to peer – we’re not doctors. Moira McCarthy’s daughter, Lauren, was marking 26 years with T1D during this event! Moira is a ski, adventure and travel writer. A JDRF International Volunteer of the Year and author of six books including,...

info_outline
“Every patient deserves to fully understand” - Art, medicine, & T1D with Dr. Mike Natter show art “Every patient deserves to fully understand” - Art, medicine, & T1D with Dr. Mike Natter

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

Dr. Mike Natter took a non-traditional path to becoming an endocrinologist, starting out as an art student. But it turns out, the universal language of drawing can help break down barriers Mike lives with type 1 – he was diagnosed at age 9. This is a wide ranging interview, we talk about his diagnosis at age 9, finishing his medical residency in NYC during the height of COVID, what he learned from his test run with the new Beta Bionics iLet pump, and a lot more. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider....

info_outline
"What do I do now?" - Pro sports photojournalist Keith Crear on life after his type 2 diagnosis

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

This is the first episode of our new show, Diabetes Connections TYPE 2. Here's what we're talking about: What IS an A1C? What you need to know about this all-important number. My guest is a sports photographer and journalist. We’re going to talk about what it takes to do that job and how he was diagnosed with diabetes after a tough run in with the Texas heat.. And hey this is our first episode – we’ll get to know each other a little bit. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. -- A1C information from:...

info_outline
In the News... Weekly basal for T1D, new CGM approved in Europe, T2D caused by pollution? and more... show art In the News... Weekly basal for T1D, new CGM approved in Europe, T2D caused by pollution? and more...

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

It’s In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: a new study looks at pancreatic exocrine-endocrine “crosstalk,” weekly basal for T1D moves forward, a Chinese company gets European approval for its CGM, a look at air pollution as a cause of T2D, lots of info and advocacy for Diabetes Awareness Month including some movies and documentaries. Links and transcript below Find out more about Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Edgepark Medical Supplies from extreme...

info_outline
“That’s the big thing: it’s tiny” - Talking with Tandem Diabetes about the Mobi & more show art “That’s the big thing: it’s tiny” - Talking with Tandem Diabetes about the Mobi & more

Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes

Tandem’s tiny Mobi pump is FDA approved and set for a limited roll out in the next few weeks. We’ve got a deep dive into its features. Mobi is phone controlled, but it has a button that delivers insulin and more.. This week we're talking with Ben Mar, Tandem’s Director of Product Marketing. We go through all of those features, answer a bunch of your questions about Mobi and about what else is coming up for Tandem. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. More about Mobi:   Find out more about ...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

It’s In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: Amazon Pharmacy will automatically apply insulin coupons, a new study shows A1Cs are going down for people with T1D who have access to technology, pollution and gestational diabetes study and a wild study that looks at how a parasite might help prevent type 2.

Don't miss Moms' Night Out! 

Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible!

Take Control with Afrezza 

Omnipod - Simplify Life

Learn about Dexcom 

Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures

Learn more about AG1 from Athletic Greens 

Drive research that matters through the T1D Exchange

The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter:

Sign up for our newsletter here

Here's where to find us:

Facebook (Group)

Facebook (Page)

Instagram

Twitter

Check out Stacey's books!

Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com 

Reach out with questions or comments: [email protected]

Transcript: 

Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now
XX
In the news is brought to you by Edgepark simplify your diabetes journey with Edgepark
XX

Amazon’s online pharmacy will automatically apply manufacturer-sponsored coupons to more than 15 insulin and diabetes medicines to help patients access discounts pledged by the drug industry.
With the new program, patients using Amazon Pharmacy will no longer have to search for and manually enter coupons from the three largest insulin makers, Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), Eli Lilly (LLY.N), and Sanofi (SASY.PA), to lower the cost of their insulin to as little as $35 for a month's supply, the company said.
Novo, Lilly and Sanofi announced in March that they would slash their insulin prices by at least 70% by or in 2024, but many reports some patients were finding it difficult to get already discounted generic insulin from pharmacies at the promised lower price.
Amazon Pharmacy will also automatically apply available discounts to diabetes-related medical devices from manufacturers Dexcom and Insulet, including continuous glucose monitors and pumps, as well as to other cardiometabolic medicines such as Novo's powerful weight-loss drug Wegovy.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-pharmacy-automates-discounts-help-insulin-patients-get-pledged-prices-2023-08-15/

XX
New study will look at Liver Targeted Insulin (LTI) in Type 1 diabetes.. Directing insulin action to the liver may help restore normal liver physiology for people with Type 1 diabetes, leading to better glucose control and overall health outcomes. Jeremy Pettus and a team of researchers are working to determine the mechanism of action and evaluate the safety profile of the Liver Targeted Insulin
Pettus lives with type 1 and is an endocrinologist who is also the xx at TCOYD.
“Living with Type 1 diabetes is extremely tough,” said Pettus. “One of the major barriers to helping patients with Type 1 diabetes achieve normal glucose levels is that injected insulin simply does not get to the ‘right’ places. Normal insulin has its main effects in the liver, but patients with Type 1 diabetes must inject insulin into the fat tissue. Doing so makes the insulin act very slowly, can lead to weight gain and can cause deadly low blood sugars. This project seeks to attach a molecule to insulin that can help direct it to the liver. In doing so, much of the normal physiology may be restored and patients may get better results.”

Pettus is working with the company Diasome to conduct a single center clinical study with 14 patients with Type 1 diabetes to test the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of the novel LTI.

If this study finds that the LTI is active and preferentially targeting the liver, the findings could spur research and development efforts in the LTI space, leading to additional clinical trials and eventually a novel insulin available that could help improve clinical outcomes.
https://today.ucsd.edu/story/2m-grant-drives-research-on-novel-insulin-in-type-1-diabetes
XX
Good news about A1c reduction in people with type 1.. but it’s limited for those with access to technology.
The new findings from a study involving patients at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes Adult Clinic between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2021. They show that as technology use has increased, A1c levels have dropped in parallel. Moreover, progression from use of stand-alone continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to automated insulin delivery systems (AIDs), which comprise insulin pumps and connected CGMs, furthered that progress.
On the flip side, A1c levels rose significantly over the study period among nonusers of technology. "We cannot rule out provider bias for not prescribing diabetes technology among those with higher A1c or from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds," Karakus and colleagues write.

Also of note, even with use of the most advanced AID systems available during the study period, just under half of patients were still not achieving A1c levels below 7%. "The technology helps, but it's not perfect," Shah observed.

This study is the first to examine the relationship of A1c with technology use over time, in contrast to prior cross-sectional studies. "The intention here was to look at the landscape over a decade," Shah said.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/995738
XX
Can a parasite help with type 2 diabetes? This is kind of gross but very true.. In the first clinical trial of its kind, a team led by scientists from James Cook University in Australia inoculated volunteers with human hookworm larvae (Necator americanus) to see if these parasites can improve their metabolic health. The two-year study included 24 participants, each of whom showed heightened insulin resistance at the start of the trial.
By the end of the investigation, researchers found those who were infected with hookworms showed a significant reduction in their insulin resistance scores compared to those who were given a placebo.
In recent decades, scientists have noticed that in places where parasitic worms are endemic, people report fewer metabolic and inflammatory diseases. I’m sure I don’t have to say this – but more study is needed. No one is recommending you try to get a parasitic infection
https://www.sciencealert.com/radical-trial-shows-hookworms-may-protect-people-from-type-2-diabetes
XX
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/simple-blood-test-may-predict-future-heart-kidney-risk-for-people-with-type-2-diabetes
XX
Exposure to air pollution early in pregnancy—and even shortly before conception—increases a woman's risk of developing gestational diabetes, according to a new USC study out in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas.
"Interestingly, we found gestational diabetes risk wasn't associated with long-term air pollution exposure but was associated with air pollution in a relatively short but critical periconceptional window, from five weeks before to five weeks after conception," said first author Zhongzheng "Jason" Niu, a postdoctoral fellow in population and public health science at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
The researchers also found the association between air pollution and gestational diabetes was more pronounced among study participants experiencing prenatal depression.
The mechanism connecting ambient air pollution and gestational diabetes remains unclear, researchers say, but an interplay among impaired glucose metabolism, inflammation and hormonal changes could be to blame. Prenatal depression, with disrupted immune and hormonal functions, could make the case worse.
https://news.usc.edu/209509/exposure-to-air-pollution-early-in-pregnancy-increases-risk-of-gestational-diabetes-study-finds/
XX
Commercial – Edgepark
XX
A look at Tandem’s bolus by phone feature shows it seems to be helping people with “low bolus frequency” give insulin more. Last year, the t:connect app was updated to allow people with the tslim x2 pump to initiate bolusing from a smart phone or the pump itself. This study looked at those who gave less than three boluses per day prior to the smartphone bolus update – the media number was 2.2. After the smartphone option, that number rose to 2.7.
https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/QYVHSJUZKND8JJAKRUTG/full
XX
Great story from Diabetes Daily about two brothers with type 1 who are creating a low or almost no sugar beer. This is in Ireland and I don’t know exactly how to explain it quickly..
“Normally, the reason that the beers have sugar in them – which is what will mess with your blood sugar levels – is that there are unfermentable sugars that remain in the beer, sugars that the yeast isn’t able to convert into alcohol. It’s just a byproduct of how you make it. But this enzyme glucoamylase actually breaks down these unfermentable sugars and makes them into fermentable sugars, so the yeast can convert all of the sugar into alcohol, and there will be no sugar left in the beer at all.
Brut beers are usually done in a clean, bitter, highly fizzy IPA style, almost like a beery champagne, but Seán has tried the glucoamylase in other recipes as well.

“Normally it’s only a pale ale or IPA that people put this enzyme into. But I really like German wheat beers. So I decided I’d try and make a wheat beer with this enzyme as well.”

“It did exactly what it was supposed to do. You end up with no sugar at the end, and a really tasty beer. So I’ve been doing it with a few others – a rye, and a Kolsch, and all the sugars completely ferment out.”

“We’ve had some fun in naming them as well. The first one, the IPA style, we call it Insulin, because it keeps the levels down. The wheat that I like to make we have now called Diawheaties.”

And his non-diabetic friends approve:

“Everyone seems to like it. They tend to be quite nice, easy-drinking beers. We wouldn’t make them just for the zero sugar if they were no good. They’re as good as the normal beers.”
https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/how-two-irish-brothers-with-type-1-diabetes-brew-their-own-zero-sugar-beer-689869/
XX
MNO update
On the podcast next week.. tandem diabetes celebrity panel from friends for life – Hollywood, the NFL and NASCAR. Last week’s episode was Benny off to college

That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.