Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms Type 1 Diabetes

The T1D news show you've been waiting for! Long-time broadcaster, blogger and diabetes mom Stacey Simms interviews prominent advocates, authors and speakers. Stacey asks hard questions of healthcare companies and tech developers and brings on "everyday' people living with type 1. Great for parents of T1D kids, adults with type 1 and anyone who loves a person with diabetes.

In the News.. Beta cells in microbeads, new injectable for T2D, Mannkind buys V-Go... and more! 05/20/2022

In the News.. Beta cells in microbeads, new injectable for T2D, Mannkind buys V-Go... and more! It's in the news! Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week: new research that keeps beta cells safer after transplant, a new drug for type 2 also shows weight loss success, the makers of Afrezza buy a simple patch pump, Beyond Type 1 tackles mental health and diabetes and lots more! ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX In the news is brought to you by T1D Exchange! T1D Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for the entire T1D population. https://t1dexchange.org/stacey/ XX Our top story, another approach to beta cell encapsulation. There are a few methods being tested to protect the transplanted cells from the body’s immune system. A new and promising one seems to be a new biomaterial in the form of microgel beads. This study was in mice only but after three months the beta cells survived and maintained blood sugar levels with no rejection drugs. Interestingly, this study put the cells into the omentum, not the liver as is apparently the usual spot. I never heard of the omentum.. in case you haven’t, it’s a layer of tissue connecting the stomach with the other abdominal organs. It’s non-vital so it’s safer if any complications take place. No word on when human trials might begin here. https://newatlas.com/medical/microgel-beads-safer-path-cell-transplants-treat-diabetes/ XX FDA approval for a new injection for type 2 diabetes called Mounjaro. It’s made by Eli Illy and is shown to lower blood sugar and can help patients lose weight. Existing medicines target a hormone called the glucagon-like peptide-1 that is involved in the control of blood sugar. But Mounjaro targets a second hormone, the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, as well. It is the first medicine to target both. While not yet approved as an obesity treatment, it’s performed very well in clinical trials for weight loss. One study showed it helped patients lose an average of 16 to 22 percent of their weight: That’s on par with bariatric surgery https://www.statnews.com/2022/05/13/fda-approves-lilly-diabetes-drug-that-analysts-expect-to-be-a-big-seller/ XX Big deal for MannKind, the makers of Afrezza inhalable insulin. They’re acquiring Zealand Pharma’s wearable V-Go Insulin Delivery Device. The V-Go is a patch pump that’s meant for people with type 2 – it delivers basal insulin at a set rate all day long and can give boluses only in increments of 2 units of insulin at a time, up to 36 units in 24 hours. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month. https://www.mddionline.com/diabetes/mannkind-acquires-wearable-insulin-device-zealand-pharma XX Young adults who were at risk of food insecurity had an increased incidence of diabetes 10 years later, according to the results of a study from Washington State University. Although previous research has associated food insecurity with a range of health issues, this study showed a connection over time, which could indicate a causal relationship. The investigators could not identify the exact reason for this connection, previous research has shown that food-insecure households often have diets with lower nutritional values. The study results did not indicate differences among ethnicities or races, but they also said that a limitation of the study was the number of minorities in the sample, which could be too low to show a pattern, according to investigators. The investigators plan to evaluate food insecurity risk and health issues within American Indian and Alaska Native and American Indian populations, which they said are often left out of annual reports on food insecurity. XX Beyond Type 1 has a new mental health portal.. announced as part of this Mental Health Awareness Month. The global nonprofit is partnering with BetterHelp to provide affordable mental health resources and services to its online community with two weeks of free, professional online therapy. Beyond Type 1 will continue to expand the resources available on the site.. it’s not just for this month. https://beyondtype1.org/mental-health/. XX Another entry into the quest to find a non-invasive way to monitor glucose. Movano Inc reports they have – quote - successfully validated the functionality of its proprietary and patented system-on-a-chip. They say this is designed specifically for blood pressure or glucose monitoring systems. It’s very early here.. they are also creating a prototype for clinical studies. But this tech got them a new patent. We’re keeping an eye on these non-invasive devices – it remains to be seen if any will be accurate enough to use to dose insulin. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/movano-successfully-completes-functional-testing-of-smallest-ever-custom-mmwave-sensor-designed-for-non-invasive-glucose-and-cuffless-blood-pressure-monitoring-301545710.html XX Right back to the news in a moment but first we’ve got a new sponsor. As I mentioned, The T1D Exchange Registry is an online research study, designed to harness the power of individuals with type 1 diabetes. It’s a research study conducted online over time, designed to foster innovation and improve the lives of people with T1D. Personal information remains confidential and participation is fully voluntary. Once enrolled, participants will complete annual surveys and have the opportunity to sign up for other studies on specific topics related to T1D. By sharing opinions, experiences and data, patients can help advance meaningful T1D treatment, care and policy Sign up at T1DExchange.org slash Stacey (that’s S-T-A-C-E-Y). XX Back to the news.. Big candy recall, so heads up if you use any of these for lows. It includes specific varieties of SKITTLES® Gummies, STARBURST® Gummies, and LIFE SAVERS® Gummies due to the potential presence of a very thin metal strand embedded in the gummies or loose in the bag. No illness or injuries have been reported. I’ll link up the specific lot and manufacturer information. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/mars-wrigley-confectionery-us-llc-issues-voluntary-recall-specific-varieties-skittlesr-gummies XX A college fashion design major has a unique senior project. Naomi Kinnamon spent her senior year working on a collection titled “Type 1 Of A Kind.” This series draws on her experiences as a woman with type 1 diabetes who struggles to find clothing that fits comfortably with her insulin pump. She’s lived with type 1 since 6th grade and says the most difficult clothing to find were dresses and jumpsuits. So she designed her own. Kinnamon showed off her designs at SCAD – the Savannah College of Art and Design and I’ll link that up in the show notes. https://www.wsav.com/now/scad-senior-designs-clothing-for-women-with-type-1-diabetes/ XX On this week’s long format episode, you’ll hear about the latest on the iLet Bionic Pancreas. Next week.. Mike Joyce is set to complete an incredible long-distance hiking trail. It’s actually three trails – the longest in the US – he’ll talk about how he does this with type 1. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/23172032

"The system really learns you" - The latest on the iLet Bionic Pancreas 05/17/2022

In the News.. Nanoparticles T1D study, Oral insulin tested for T2D, a type 1 Squishmallow and more! 05/13/2022

In the News.. Nanoparticles T1D study, Oral insulin tested for T2D, a type 1 Squishmallow and more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week: racial disparities in treatment for kids with type 1, new study looks at oral insulin for type 2, nanoparticles tested to prevent diabetes and why is there a Squishmallow toy being marketed as having T1D? That and a lot more. Full transcript and links to sources below. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX In the news is brought to you by T1D Exchange! T1D Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for the entire T1D population. https://t1dexchange.org/stacey/ XX Our top story, Black children with type 1 diabetes experience disparities in health outcomes compared with other racial and ethnic groups with similar neighborhood opportunity profiles. That’s according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open. This was a very big study – more than 70-thousand patient encounters under the age of 21 from 2009 to 2018. They looked at something called the Child Opportunity Index. This It combines data from neighborhood-level indicators, like good schools, parks and playgrounds, clear air and safe housing. They found that the probability of readmission within a year was significantly higher among Black children with a very low COI category versus Hispanic children and White children at the same COI category. These researchers say doctors and educators need to be aware and include interventions that target racial disparities. https://www.physiciansweekly.com/outcomes-worse-for-children-with-type-1-diabetes-who-are-black XX New research suggests the people of certain racial ethnic groups should be screened for diabetes at lower body mass index than white people. A recommendation that contradicts recent guidelines from the United States Preventive Services Task Force. At a time when a lot of medicine is trying to rid itself of race-based tools this could be tricky.. but these researchers say that using a one-size-fits-all approach to screening, when diabetes is two to four times more prevalent and more deadly in Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans, is likely to result in underdiagnosis of the disease, and widen health gaps. https://www.statnews.com/2022/05/09/race-ethnicity-bmi-diabetes-screening/ XX New partnership between JDRF, Yale University and a company called NexImmune. That company has something called Artificial Immune Modulation nanoparticles and the idea here is to if that could work with Teplizumab to delay or prevent type 1. Teplizumab is already being tested as a prevention method and is back in front of the FDA. NexImmune says it’s wider plan is to use the body’s own T-cells to generate a specific immune response to prevent not just diabetes but other auto immune conditions and even cancer. https://www.jdrf.org/press-releases/neximmune-yale-and-jdrf-enter-into-600k-research-partnership-for-type-1-diabetes/ XX Oramed Pharmaceuticals announced this week that it has enrolled 100% of the patients in the world’s first Phase 3 study of oral insulin This is being looked at just for type 2 right now. The primary endpoint of the study is to compare the efficacy of ORMD-0801 to placebo in improving glycemic control, with a secondary endpoint of assessing the change from baseline in fasting plasma glucose at 26 weeks. They hope to announce results in January of 2023. https://www.biopharma-reporter.com/Article/2022/05/05/Oramed-hits-oral-insulin-clinical-trial-milestone XX New partnership between two diabetes heavy weights. The Diabetes Research Institute, DRI Foundation Canada (DRIFCAN) and Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI) have announced a research partnership The CEO of DRI says "Type 1 diabetes knows no borders or boundaries; nor should the research to find a cure. There’s a lot of research funded by these groups, included islet and stem cell transplantation. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/diabetes-research-institute-foundation-joins-193300513.html XX Right back to the news in a moment but first we’ve got a new sponsor. As I mentioned, The T1D Exchange Registry is an online research study, designed to harness the power of individuals with type 1 diabetes. It’s a research study conducted online over time, designed to foster innovation and improve the lives of people with T1D. Personal information remains confidential and participation is fully voluntary. Once enrolled, participants will complete annual surveys and have the opportunity to sign up for other studies on specific topics related to T1D. By sharing opinions, experiences and data, patients can help advance meaningful T1D treatment, care and policy Sign up at T1DExchange.org slash Stacey (that’s S-T-A-C-E-Y). XX Insulet’s CEO is stepping down.. Shacey Petrovic has been in the role since 2019 and says she’s stepping down June first for amily reasons. Petrovec will stay on as an advisor for the next year to aid in the transition and support the company’s launch of the Omnipod 5. She’ll replaced by Jim Hollingshead, who’s been on Insulet’s Board for the last three years. He’s been the president of ResMed – a company that focuses on advances in sleep medicine- for the last 12 years. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/insulet-swap-ceos-amid-omnipod-5-insulin-pump-roll-out XX I feel like I haven’t done a newscast in a few weeks without mentioning model Lila Moss. After being on the cover of UK Vogue and making headlines at the Met Gala, she’s now showing off her Libre and Omnipod In a new Fendi and Versace ad campaign https://pagesix.com/2022/05/11/lila-moss-wears-diabetes-monitor-in-fendi-versace-ad-campaign/ XX Got an update for you on T1D The Movie. We talked about this a few months ago – Star Trek actor Noah Averbach Katz is producing a short film with type 1 at the center. He started a kick starter campaign and got a wonderful response from the start trek community which, along with the diabetes community, fully funded the project. I got an update that he is starting filming this week. He also says if you backed the project at the level where you’d get a token of appreciation, they’re working on those too.. more to come. XX Interesting find on the toy front. I had never heard of Squishmallows but people say the stuffed toys are soothing while others say it’s just a scam and there’s nothing inherently special about the plush toys. Either way, one of the limited edition plushies is being marketed as having type 1 diabetes. There’s nothing on the toy itself to show that it might use diabetes technology – this is just listed in the toy description on line. I’m trying to find out the story behind this so letme know if you know atying! XX On this week’s long format episode, you’ll hear about the Mental Health Plus diabetes conference.. the organizers said every conference has one session on mental health – we really need more. So they did it. Love that! Next week, as I mentioned, Dexcom’s Chief Technical Officer on the G7, some interesting new info.. and I asked him all of your questions. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/23092337

Dexcom G7 Update With CTO Jake Leach 05/10/2022

In the News.. FDA suspends stem cell study, Omnipod 5 wider rollout, Dexcom G7 update and more! 05/06/2022

In the News.. FDA suspends stem cell study, Omnipod 5 wider rollout, Dexcom G7 update and more! It's "In the News..." Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week: An FDA hiccup for Vertex, Omnipod 5 starts wider rollout, New peek at Dexcom G7 features, Beta Bionic study info, "Hey Alexa, predict my blood sugar" and Healthline shuts down their main source of diabetes news and information. -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm ET ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX In the news is brought to you by T1D Exchange! T1D Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for the entire T1D population. https://t1dexchange.org/stacey/ XX Our top story – bit of a surprise for Vertex – the FDA puts a clinical hold on their newest trial. This is the company that made big headlines last fall – that New York Times article likely sent to you by everyone you know about a stem cell cure for type 1. That’s when Vertex reported data on the cell therapy from a single patient who achieved a “robust” restoration of islet cell function after receiving a drug called VX-880. That response is going strong they say at day 270. This week, Vertex showcased results from another patient and said a third patient has received the full dose. A company spokesman says they’re surprised by the clinical hold given the evidence so far and there have been no serious adverse events. They say they’ll work with the FDA to get the trial moving again as soon as possible. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/unwelcome-surprise-vertex-fda-slaps-hold-phase-12-diabetes-cell-therapy-study XX Insulet announces that Omnipod 5 has completed the Limited Market Release and will be rolling out to a wider audience soon. Those who signed up for what they call the interest list will be notified first – we’re told watch for that email this week. If you haven’t signed up, sit tight. Omnipod 5 still isn’t yet available through all insurers and at every pharmacy, but the roll out will continue slowly through the year. https://www.omnipod.com/current-podders/resources/omnipod-5/faqs?fbclid=IwAR1fghbXl4uP4H3z8DGovriAocpZyDyPzLdPzME_taonv3_ZfPC3XqukHJY XX We’re learning more about Dexcom’s G7 – approved in Europe and in front of the US FDA right now. Sensors will have a bit of a grace period – they’ll keep working 12 hours after the 10 days are up. You’ll also be able to silence the urgent low and sensor fail alarms for six hours – that’s new. I’m talking to CTO Jake Leach for next week’s long-format show and he’s got a lot of info to share. I asked as many of your questions as I could, so please come back for that one. XX New study results about the iLet, the insulin only bionic pancreas from Beta Bionics. This is one of the many studies presented at A-T-T-D.. People in the study saw about half a point come off their A1Cs after 13 weeks and there was no increase in hypoglycemia. They also saw more than 2 and a half hours more time in range. The iLet is unique in that you only enter your weight and tell the pump system when you’re eating – there are no basal rates or a need to enter carbs. No timeline for release but the company says its regulatory submission is currently under FDA review. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/04/30/2433019/0/en/The-iLet-Bionic-Pancreas-Significantly-Reduced-HbA1c-and-Improved-Time-in-Range-vs-Standard-of-Care-for-a-Diverse-Range-of-People-with-Type-1-Diabetes.html XX Amazon.com's online pharmacy PillPack has agreed to pay almost 6-million dollars to resolve claims that it overcharged government health insurance programs by dispensing more insulin injector pens than patients needed. That’s the headline, but -editorial here – this story just shows a lot about what’s wrong with our system. Many of us have had this happen – used to be if you had a prescription for insulin pens, they’d just give you the box of 5 – even if the prescription was written for 3 or 4. Now, they have to break open the box and count out the exact amount. It’s not as though a patient was over-charged.. and that’s not the focus of this lawsuit. This was about government health insurance programs. I get it, we’re all paying for that in our taxes, but there’s got to be a better way. Maybe pass that co-pay cap, or let Medicare negotiate prices or just cap the price overall. Then this issue – and many others – goes away. https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/amazon-unit-pay-58-mln-insulin-overbilling-2022-05-02/ XX Walmart Health's telehealth company MeMD launched a virtual care diabetes program this past week. The initiative, known as the Walmart Health Virtual Care Diabetes Program, was developed for employers and payers as a standalone offering or as part of a comprehensive telehealth program. It’s a partnership with the ADA and includes a consultation with a licensed medical provider to discuss patient history, eating habits and more. https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/walmart-launches-telehealth-program-aimed-diabetes XX Right back to the news in a moment but first we’ve got a new sponsor. As I mentioned, The T1D Exchange Registry is an online research study, designed to harness the power of individuals with type 1 diabetes. It’s a research study conducted online over time, designed to foster innovation and improve the lives of people with T1D. Personal information remains confidential and participation is fully voluntary. Once enrolled, participants will complete annual surveys and have the opportunity to sign up for other studies on specific topics related to T1D. By sharing opinions, experiences and data, patients can help advance meaningful T1D treatment, care and policy. Sign up at T1DExchange.org slash Stacey (that’s S-T-A-C-E-Y). XX An Australian company joins the diabetes conversation on your Alexa device. Jade Diabetes says their My Jade skill can centralize logging, dose calculation and dose management. It can also suggest dose changes within 3 hours. They say “Jade is the only system to use accurate predictions to alert patients of future risks at a given time.” It uses info from CGMs, connected glucose meters, digital pens and data from Apple Health. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220504005004/en/Jade-Diabetes-makes-Diabetes-Simpler-with-Alexa-Insulin-Dosing XX Really sad to hear that Healthline has decided to close down what I think has been just one of the best sources of Diabetes news & info.. Diabetesmine. It was started by Amy Tenderich after her diagnosis in 2003 and acquired by Healthline in 2013. I’ve had her and Managing Editor Mike Hoskins on the show many times. Amy’s amazing other project – D-Data Exchange will live on. These are the bi-annual #DData forums connect experts, advocates and innovators developing data platforms, apps, algorithms and next-gen devices to take full advantage of data-driven diabetes care. You may recall the term We Are Not Waiting was coined at the first D-Data exchange – it’s a cool place to be! The next one is coming up June 2nd, more info in the show notes. https://summer2022-ddata.eventbrite.com XX On this week’s long format episode, you’ll hear about the Mental Health Plus diabetes conference.. the organizers said every conference has one session on mental health – we really need more. So they did it. Love that! Next week, as I mentioned, Dexcom’s Chief Technical Officer on the G7, some interesting new info.. and I asked him all of your questions. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/23023010

"It's more than a physical condition" The Diabetes and Mental Health Conference 05/03/2022

In the News... ATTD News From Dexcom, Beta Bionics, Libre, Ypsomed & more 04/29/2022

In the News... ATTD News From Dexcom, Beta Bionics, Libre, Ypsomed & more It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Our top stories this week include headlines from the ATTD Conference - that’s the Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes Conference. There's a bit of new information about the Dexcom G7, Beta Bionics announces it will release pivotal trial results, and news of the first AID system using the Libre 3 is announced. Along with ATTD there's news about type 2 diabetes and grocery stores, all types of diabetes and nursing homes and a person with T1D is on the cover of British Vogue. Learn more about Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm ET ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX In the news is brought to you by T1D Exchange! T1D Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for the entire T1D population. https://t1dexchange.org/stacey/ XX This week ATTD begins – that’s the Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes Conference, so you can expect to hear a lot of news. I’ll include some here, some next week and we’ve got future interviews lined up with a lot of the companies making headlines.. XX First up, a peek at more features in Dexcom’s G7 system. It’s approved in Europe but not the US and features what they’re calling more meaningful alarms. You can silence more alarms, including urgent low & sensor fail for up to six hours, there’s also a new 12 hour grace period at the end of the 10-day sensor life. It’s already been announced the G7 has a much shorter warm up period, only half an hour, and is much smaller. -- Also at ATTD, Beta Bionics will be releasing Pivotal Trial Results of the iLet Bionic Pancreas. The iLet is a pump – connected to a CGM that is designed to autonomously determine and deliver insulin doses to control blood glucose levels. You’ll recall this pump was originally designed to deliver both insulin and glucagon.. but the current iteration is insulin only. They says this pivotal trial population was more diverse and representative of the United States type 1 diabetes community than any previous pivotal trial of an automated insulin delivery system. We’ll have more info on what these trials actually said next week. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/04/25/2427846/0/en/Pivotal-Trial-Results-of-the-iLet-Bionic-Pancreas-To-Be-Presented-at-ATTD.html XX The first automated insulin delivery system using the FreeStyle Libre has been announced. This is in Europe and it’s the Libre 3, Ypsomed pump and CamDiab software system. Expected by the end of the year, this is described as a self-learning app, a hybrid, closed-loop system that runs on an Android smartphone and can be tuned to users as young as one year old https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/abbott-launches-diabetes-team-ypsomed-camdiab-bring-artificial-pancreas-system-europe XX And a new consensus meeting on Time in Range. In 2019, diaTribe formed the Time in Range Coalition, whose goal was to ensure that Time in Range (TIR) becomes the primary glucose metric for daily management, complemented by A1C, in diabetes care globally. But there isn’t an internationally consensus on the use of CGMs in clinical trials. This meeting will help standardize those methods. XX Other highly anticipated – or at least well-publicized- studies coming to ATTD include those from Tandem and Omnipod and almost every big diabetes tech company. Lots more to come next week and we already have interviews set with Dexcom and Beta Bionics to we’ll talk about all this in the long format episodes in weeks to come. XX Overtreating type 2 diabetes is apparently very common in nursing homes.. which can be a big problem as people get older and may require changes. New study in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society show about 40% of nursing home residents with type 2 diabetes may be overtreated. These researchers say one big issue is that at admission, residents are given a very big medical work up, but that isn’t followed up on year to year. Often as people age, its recommended their A1C is maintained a bit higher, for safety reasons, so a target A1C could easily change years or even months after someone moves into assisted care or a nursing home. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220422/diabetes-overtreatment-common-in-nursing-homes-with-little-medication-deintensification XX Right back to the news in a moment but first we’ve got a new sponsor. As I mentioned, The T1D Exchange Registry is an online research study, designed to harness the power of individuals with type 1 diabetes. It’s a research study conducted online over time, designed to foster innovation and improve the lives of people with T1D. Personal information remains confidential and participation is fully voluntary. Once enrolled, participants will complete annual surveys and have the opportunity to sign up for other studies on specific topics related to T1D. By sharing opinions, experiences and data, patients can help advance meaningful T1D treatment, care and policy. Sign up at T1DExchange.org slash Stacey (that’s S-T-A-C-E-Y). XX New survey looking at how people with diabetes rate their grocery stores. From D-Q&A this was a big survey, more than 5-thousand people statistically representative of all people with diabetes in the United States. They found more than half of people with diabetes did not feel very supported in maintaining their preferred eating habits at home. 28% of low-income people with diabetes find it somewhat or very challenging to find their preferred foods when grocery shopping. Stores rated best? Aldi, Publix, Costco, H-E-B, and Hyvee. The worst rated were BJ’s, Vons, Shaw’s, Ralphs, Tops & Randalls https://d-qa.com/major-grocery-chains-failing-to-meet-the-needs-of-people-with-diabetes/ XX Last year she made big news by walking the runway with her Omnipod visible, this year Lila Moss is – we think – the first person with type 1 on the cover of Vogue magazine. She did an interview with them that’s on YouTube – I’ll link up the video. She says she has an Apple air tag attached to her Pod PDM. Going through her handbag essentials, she included glucose tabs and talked about how her diabetes is something she doesn’t keep hidden but just isn’t always visible. Just nice to see a matter of fact interview featuring type 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5piEaumF6f0 XX On this week’s long format episode, you’ll hear from Civica RX – this is the company pledging to put out insulin without making a profit. We’ll hear why they think this will work and how soon it’ll be available for purchase. Next week we’re talking about a new mental health conference for people with diabetes – it’s virtual so you can participate from anywhere. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22947830

"We can do it" - Civica Rx and Non-Profit Insulin 04/26/2022

In the News.. What is Luna Diabetes? T1D telehealth study, 420 with diabetes and more! 04/22/2022

In the News.. What is Luna Diabetes? T1D telehealth study, 420 with diabetes and more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Our top stories this week include a new company called Luna Diabetes founded by some heavy-hitters in our community, a new telehealth study for underserved kids, improved life expectancy for people with type 2 and a look at 420 with diabetes. Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm ET ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX Our top story is a very interesting LinkedIn post about a new company and product.. Luna Diabetes aims to fill in a big gap – overnight automated control for people who use smart insulin pens. They’re calling it A-I – automated injections, a way to combine the convenience of insulin pens with the clinical outcomes of automated insulin delivery – like Control IQ or Looping. Some heavy hitters here – the founders are John Show-lund Sjolund – founder of Timesulin, John Brilliant a co-founder of BigFoot biomedical and Sean Saint, founder of Companion Medical who made the InPen automated pen system. The release shows a little device but no real information yet. Is it an automated basal delivery system for overnights only? pivotal trial to start by the end of this year We’ll keep you posted.. https://www.lunadiabetes.com/ XX A look at pediatrics in under-served communities shows most children are not meeting A1C goals. A new grant from the Helmsley Charitiable Trust will focus on expanding access through remote care. Many providers lack the money to set remote care up and use it effectively – telehealth systems and things like that. A large pediatric endo group in Buffalo, NY will work with Cecelia Health, a virtual first health care provider. They’ll work with about a thousand patients to explore how improving access to remote support and the internet to better manage chronic conditions will improve outcomes. This is along with existing diabetes technology like pumps and CGMs. https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/22/04/n26682238/improving-outcomes-for-children-and-adolescents-living-with-type-1-diabetes-is-the-goal-of-a-colla XX Big news for people with diabetes in Australia. The government has committed to subsidized access to continuous glucose monitoring and flash glucose monitoring technology for all people living with type 1 diabetes. Right now, people under 21 are already eligible as as women who are actively planning a pregnancy or are pregnancy. This agreement will make everyone eligible for just over 30-dollars a month. Right now it costs over 300-dollars a month. I’m going to link up info from the incredible Diabetes Australia advocate Renza Scibilia who’s been on the show before and who’s been working on this for more than ten years. Congrats Renza and all who will benefit. https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/mediarelease/diabetes-australia-welcomes-bipartisan-commitment-to-cgmforall/ https://diabetogenic.blog/2022/04/17/oh-happy-day/ XX Not a big surprise but important information about improving life expectancy in people with type 2. New study shows reducing A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol and BMI makes a big difference. This was a University of Florida Gainesville study.. biggest improvement in all of these was reducing A1C from the highest in the study – about 9.9 - to the lowest about - 7.7 - added almost 4 years of life expectancy. These researchers say it’s very motivating to patients and clinicians to see these gains and it may help them choose treatment goals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-treatment-goals-diabetes-life.html XX We’ve talked about One Drop before.. more than a meter, they now call themselves a digital coaching company. And a new evaluation from an independent, third-party found that One Drop’s support program effectively improves the health of people living with prediabetes, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The program could also cut down on annual healthcare costs. This is from the independent Validation Institute, dedicated to providing unbiased, data-driven insights on health care solutions. The Validation Institute financially guarantees the program’s effectiveness. This means that people who follow the program properly but do not improve their blood pressure or A1C can file a claim with Validation Institute for up to $25,000. https://diatribe.org/one-drop-results-backed-by-independent-review XX Okay this newscast is going live on April 20th.. or 4-20.. There are a lot of questions about whether marijuana which is now legal in a lot of the US is okay to use if you have diabetes. I’m going to link up some information for you in the show notes.. But most of the information focuses on the slightly altered state weed can put you in.. for many that means being more relaxed but for some it may interfere with diabetes management in the moment. There’s nothing specifically good or bad about marijuana that I could find for people with diabetes. However there is a warning for any pregnant woman -children who were exposed to cannabis in utero may be at risk for obesity and high blood sugar later in life. https://beyondtype2.org/marijuana-and-type-2-diabetes/ XX On this week’s long format episode, Dr Mark Heyman is a diabetes psychologist who lives with type 1. He has great advice for the most under-treated part of diabetes, the mental health aspect of it all. Next week you’ll hear from Civica RX – this is the company pledging to put out insulin without making a profit. We’ll hear why they think this will work and how soon it’ll be available for purchase. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22867205

"Diabetes Sucks, And You Can Handle It" - Psychologist Dr. Mark Heyman 04/19/2022

"It's been absolutely amazing" - Sage Donnelly, World-Champion Kayaker with T1D 04/12/2022

In the News... Testing new T1D treatments, 6-month CGM launches in the US, Dexcom One and more! 04/08/2022

In the News... Testing new T1D treatments, 6-month CGM launches in the US, Dexcom One and more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Our top stories this week include testing a new treatment for leukemia to see if it might help with type 1, Black patients with type 1 are at higher risk of DKA, transitioning from teen care to adult care, updates on Eversense in the US and Dexcom One in the UK and front office changes at Beyond Type 1 and Vertex. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX Interesting look at whether a treatment for leukemia might work against type 1. Very early on here.. but AVM Biotechnology has received a grant to find out. The drug doesn’t have a name yet.. it’s referred to as AVM-0703 and has been shown to delay T1D in the lab. A preclinical dose-finding and mechanism of action (MOA) study in three scenarios including pre-diabetic, new-onset, and established diabetes is the first aim of the program. Those results will be used to determine the targeted dose to be used in a pivotal efficacy study for reversal of new-onset and established diabetes. It is anticipated that for patients not showing remission, AVM0703 may reinforce other immunotherapies allowing a wider range of patients to achieve insulin independence. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220405005529/en/AVM-Biotechnology-Awarded-1.6-Million-Phase-II-SBIR-Grant-to-Study-AVM0703%E2%80%99s-Potential-to-Reverse-Type-1-Diabetes XX Black patients with type 1 faced a significantly higher frequency of diabetic ketoacidosis during the pandemic, and particularly during surges, researchers reported. This was a big study at several different health centers and hospitals. Researchers found there was not significant difference in the number of patients in DKA from 2019 versus 2020.. but there was a higher proportion of Black patients. The trend continued through the pandemic and again, it was significant, 48-percent versus 18 percent. Pandemic surges emphasized the disparity even more. These researchers say their work shows racial inequities in diabetes care were present before the pandemic, starkly visible during the pandemic, and will continue to persist after the pandemic -- unless we systemically root out and target racial inequities in diabetes care," https://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/type1diabetes/98044 XX A new look the transition from pediatric to adult care for people with type 1 shows.. it needs improvement. This research – based on interviews with older adolescents showed many felt unprepared and dissatisfied with the transition process. Three big takeaways – the teens are aware of the changing relationship with their parents and health care teams and often want more independence than the parents are willing to give… the teens want acknowledgement that being diagnosed at different ages means they may be more or less comfortable with self-management and the third is that they think their pediatric team isn’t preparing them to work with adult providers. Personally, this means a lot to me – as my son is 17 – and I’ll be asking his peds endo to work with him more on this stuff in the next couple of years. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220401/novel-programs-needed-to-improve-transition-from-pediatric-to-adult-diabetes-care XX DiabetesWise announces the launch of it’s new Pro website. It’s an unbranded non-biased resource created at Stanford University to help make providers more informed about diabetes devices and streamline the prescription process. We’ve talked about Diabetes Wise before and I’ll link it up here. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the evolving choices and providers are in the same situation. The DiabetesWise Pro website has an extensive Device Library where providers can learn about all of the FDA-approved diabetes devices on the market based on the patient’s considerations. The user can compare the devices from the different manufacturers using the Compare Device tool, which displays a side-by-side analysis of the components and details of each technology, including the steps for ordering and prescribing the device. Providers can then build a comparison report of the two devices to share with their patients, colleagues, and community. Along with the Device Library, providers can receive help with ordering and prescribing the devices for their patients using the Prescription Tools feature on the website. The Prescription Tool directs the user to a guide providing accurate up-to-date information on the necessary steps for filing a prescription and ordering the device for the patient. DiabetesWise Pro has plans to update the tool to include details on the approval of devices for patients based on insurance type. DiabetesWise Pro website features for use in clinic include: 1. Device Library- Information on specific device fundamentals 2. Comparison Tool- Comprehensive tool that allows you to compare device recommendations and share with patients 3. Prescription Tool- A step-to-step guide for ordering the device and filling a prescription based on insurance type 4. Resources for providers by providers- best tips, tricks, and workarounds for diabetes technology from providers With this new resource, there have also been enhancements to the patient-facing website at DiabetesWise. Newly approved devices have been added and there are now Spanish-language versions of the Check-Up and Device Finder. https://diabeteswise.org/#/ https://providers.diabeteswise.org/#/ XX FDA approval in February, now the Eversense six-month CGM is rolling out to patients. The price is set at 99-dollars out of pocket for the first transmitter and sensor and then $100 per month for the six months of wear. The device includes a small fluorescence-based sensor, about the size of a grain of rice, which is fully embedded in the upper arm. A transmitter stuck to the skin over the sensor reads the data, transmits the information to a smartphone and provides vibration alerts for changes in blood sugar. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/ascensia-diabetes-care-launches-eversenses-6-month-cgm-system-us XX Dexcom ONE is getting a big roll out in the UK. We’ve talked about this a couple of times in the past.. it’s the same Dexcom technology but a bit pared down and at lower cost. This news comes as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced new guidance for adults and children managing Type 1 diabetes. NICE now recommends that adults with Type 1 diabetes be offered a choice of glucose sensors. G6 is already offered there and the G7 will be as well, but this is about national health service coverage, and the Dexcom One is the only system under consideration there. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220401005092/en/Dexcom-Announces-Dexcom-ONE-the-Newest-Real-Time-Continuous-Glucose-Monitoring-System-to-Its-Range-of-Scan-Free-and-Fingerprick%E2%80%A0-Free-Devices XX Some front office news around the community.. Stem cell pioneer Doug Melton is leaving Harvard to join Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Not entirely unexpected – Melton’s company Semma was purchased by Vertex and they are moving ahead toward stem cell transplantation as a functional cure for type 1. This was the company that got all those headlines last fall about the cure – you remember “It worked in this one guy!” Melton is joining the company as a distinguished Vertex Fellow. Semma, by the way, was named after his two adult children who live with type 1 – Sam & Emma. https://www.statnews.com/2022/04/05/douglas-melton-noted-stem-cell-researcher-leaves-harvard-for-vertex-to-create-diabetes-treatments/ XX Beyond Type 1 names Deborah Dugan as CEO. She replaces Thom Scher who died suddenly and unexpectedly in December. Dugan was previously the CEO of RED, the not-for-profit organization founded by U-2’s Bono (bah no) and Bobby Shriver to raise awareness in the fight against AIDS. Dugan, has been recognized as one of the "100 Most Powerful Women" by Forbes, "Top Woman to Help Change the World" by Elle and as a "Nelson Mandela Changemaker" https://beyondtype1.org/beyond-type-1-diabetes-deborah-dugan-ceo/ XX Congratulations to Leo and Alana Folsom who welcome a baby boy. The couple was on a recent season of the Amazing Race and after we all saw Leo’s Dexcom in one of the first episodes, he came on this show to share his story. Leo lives with congenital hyperinsulinism, where the body makes too much insulin, and had almost his entire pancreas removed. He told me at the time he was amazed by the diabetes community’s support. So I just wanted to say congrats to him and to Alana and help welcome baby Kitt Edwin Folsom. XX On this week’s long format episode, Laurie Harper shares her story… Laurie was diagnosed as a toddler back in 1955. She’s in the Joslin Medalist Study and talks about the difference this incredible group is making. Next week you’ll hear from World Champion Kayaker Sage Donnely who was diagnosed with type 1 at age 3 when she’d already been kayacking for almost a year. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22719878

"I'm going to enjoy life"- Joslin medalist Laurie Harper has lived with T1D since 1955 04/05/2022

In the News... rethinking insulin temperature, Metformin warning, diabetes & sexual health and more! 04/01/2022

In the News... rethinking insulin temperature, Metformin warning, diabetes & sexual health and more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Our top stories this week include new information about the temperature at which insulin can be safely stored, a warning about men taking Metformin, news about sexual health and women with diabetes, and a heads up about a virtual mental health conference coming up for people with diabetes. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX Our top story.. a look at how insulin holds up under real-world and often hotter conditions than is recommended. Doctors without Borders found that a range of insulins can be stored at warmer temperatures than previously recommended. They showed it’s okay above 77-degrees all the way up to 99 degrees for four weeks. This is really important not just for emergency settings like refugee camps but for people who live in areas without refrigeration. They often have to travel to health clinics which may be far away and which can’t send them home with the insulin. The group now says pharmaceutical corporations should urgently submit to regulatory authorities for use of insulin under expanded temperature ranges. This came out a few weeks back, but I haven’t seen it anywhere. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/msf-study-shows-some-insulin-can-be-stored-warmer-temperatures XX Big headlines this week about Metformin and the risk of of birth defects in the babies of men who take it. Metformin is a very common diabetes drug, taken by tens of millions of people around the world. Sons born to men taking it were more than three times as likely to have a genital birth defect as unexposed babies. These problems were relatively rare, occurring in fewer than 1-percent of all babies with dads who took Metformin but it’s significant because tens of millions of people worldwide take metformin. These researchers say the paper’s findings are preliminary and observational only.. and that men with diabetes should NOT abruptly stop metformin before trying to conceive. Reassuringly, the researches saw no effect for men who took the drug earlier in life or even a year before. Expect a lot more research to come on this one. https://www.science.org/content/article/rare-genital-defects-seen-sons-men-taking-major-diabetes-drug XX Grain of salt needed here, but new research may show that people with type 1 are more likely to manage better if they have high levels of psychological resilience. This was a British study that followed 18-hundred people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. They used a questionnaire to determine how they adapted to change and focused under pressure. The researchers found that people with type 1 diabetes who had low psychological resilience also had poorer blood sugar control after two years. The idea is that something like this would offer the opportunity to identify those who might benefit most from additional support when they are first diagnosed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-psychological-resilience-future-high-blood.html XX Among patients with diabetes, women are just as likely as men to suffer from sexual dysfunction, but their issues are overlooked. Big session on this at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference this week. Reserachers say women with diabetes can experience reduced sexual desire, painful sex, and other issues which can increase the risk of depression. But these issues are usually untreated despite help being available. They talked about the embarrassment factor and the idea that many women with sexual dysfunction don’t realize diabetes could be a factor. They encourage health care professionals to go beyond conversations about contraception, pregnancy and menstruation. A recent study led by Belgian researchers found that among more than 750 adults with diabetes 36% of men and 33% of women reported sexual dysfunction. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/971208 XX Concerning new trend about pre-diabetes.. it’s doubled among children over the last 20 years. The increase was seen over almost all subpopulations of young Americans, regardless of income, ethnicity and education. The study in the journal JAMA Pedatirics included kids 12 to 19 years old from 1999 to 2018. The rate of presdiabetes went from 11.6-percent to 28.2-percent. Pre-diabetes means blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not yet at the diabetes threshold. These researchers are quick to point out, they don’t know the reason why this is happening.. while diet and exercise are usually what’s pointed to.. it’s not entirely clear that’s the reason behind this rise. https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/28/health/prediabetes-children-study-wellness/index.html XX Huge new study of more than 3-million people says people with type 2 have a higher risk of 57 other health conditions. Experts described the findings as stark and alarming and said it underlined the urgent need to reduce the risk of more people developing type 2 diabetes. The study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, focused on people over 30. These researchers say the higher risks occurred when people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes under the age of 50. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/29/type-2-diabetes-results-higher-risk-57-other-conditions-study XX Want to let you know about the Diabetes plus Mental Health virtual conference coming up in May. This two-day event will highlight ways in which living with diabetes affects mental health. There will be 2 tracks - one for patients and one for caregivers and providers. I’m excited to take part – just in a light hearted way. I’ll be hosting a game show type session where you can meet some of the presenters and participants. Lots more information lined up.. registration is open now and early bird pricing ends April 3rd. https://dmhconference.vfairs.com/?fbclid=IwAR2BiuxasHL0bBGe_6JpDzMnhY__kr6HptYFGpfdwEO0ftDL7pTbMyFycIY XX On this week’s long format episode we’re talking to JDRF about the new non-profit insulin they’ve backed. Why will this effort from Civica RX be different? We’ll talk about it. Next week we’ll have a conversation with one woman in the Joslin Medalist Study. Diagnosed nearly 70 years ago she shares her story and why she’s excited about part of this incredible group. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22634363

"I think we have an answer" - JDRF's CEO explains the plan for non-profit insulin 03/29/2022

In the News... Type 2 risk after COVID, CGMs for telehealth, Faustman studies move ahead and more! 03/25/2022

In the News... Type 2 risk after COVID, CGMs for telehealth, Faustman studies move ahead and more! It's "In the News..." Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Our top stories this week include increased risk of type 2 after having COVID-19, CGM gets high marks as a telehealth device, Ypsomed pump picks a new partner, more study on the TB vaccine for type 1 and T1D: The Movie update! -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm ET ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX People who recover from a mild case of COVID-19 appear to have an increased risk for subsequent new-onset type 2 diabetes… but not other types of diabetes. This is from a big new study in Germany. It lines up with previous studies of more seriously ill patients with COVID 19 who had increased rates of type 2 in the months following. This was more than 35-thousand patients – no prior history of diabetes. The risk of developing type 2 increased by 28-percent if the person had COVID, again even a mild case. The researchers say anyone who tested positive for COVID should be aware and get screened for diabetes in the months and years following. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/970600 XX Big new study that – interestingly – talks about the CGM as a telehealth device. It looked at how doctors continued to care for children with type 1 before and after the first year of the COVID pandemic. The use of CGMs increased significantly among those with non-commercial insurance… from 24 percent in 2019 to 35 percent by the end of 2020. Another finding in this same study.. those with higher A1Cs, racial minorities, and those with non-commercial insurance were more likely to have high rates of DKA. But the implementation of telehealth and CGMs increased parental oversight which resulted in better care at home and lower than expected hospitalization rates. I want to dig a little deeper here because a lower hospitalization rate during the first year of the COVID pandemic overall.. was found to be tied to a lot of fear about going to a hospital during that time. https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-helped-maintain-type-1-diabetes-care-among-kids-during-pandemic XX Swiss pump maker Ypsomed announces the software they’ll use for their automated insulin delivery. Ypsomed will partner with CamDiab’s CamAPS app. The launch will start in select major countries in Europe, with other territories to follow over the course of 2022. This includes a hybrid closed loop – like Omnipod 5 and Control IQ - as well as smartphone control.. it’s compatible with Dexcom’s G6. It’ll start on Android then roll out on iOS.. Ypsomed is partnering with Lilly to come to the US – we’ve had them on the show before talking about this. They hope to submit to the FDA this year. https://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/ypsomed-partners-with-camdiab-on-smartphone-based-automated-insulin-delivery/ XX The FDA is due to make a decision on Teplizumab by August 17th. This is a drug that has been shown to delay type 1 diabetes. Last year the FDA turned down Provention Bio, asking for a resubmission with more information. The company is also running the phase 3 PROTECT trial of teplizumab. That’s in newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes patients. They hope to expanding the indications for the drug. https://pharmaphorum.com/news/fda-sets-august-decision-date-for-proventions-type-1-diabetes-drug/ XX More study underway into the tuberculosis vaccine as a treatment for type 1. This is Dr. Denise Faustman’s lab – they’re recruiting 150 teen with type 1 for pediatric clinical trials of the shots. Faustman’s work is controversial because her studies have been very small and many experts say they don’t show significant improvement. But Faustman says the vaccine appears to help patients with Type 1 diabetes by altering their immune system and that even though no one in her trials is off of insulin, there is improvement. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/03/21/metro/could-100-year-old-vaccine-treat-type-1-diabetes-mgh-researchers-are-working-find-out/ XX If you’re watching live, today is the last day to back the Kickstarter for Type 1 The Movie. We talked about this on last week’s podcast episode – Noah Averbach Katz is an actor who lives with type 1 and is making a movie where diabetes is front and center. Since Noah and his wife are on Star Trek Discovery, that community has jumped in to really amplify this. It’s been great to see and he’s well over his goal. If you’re watching or hearing this after March 23rd, you can follow the link anyway to stay up to date on the project. I gave and I’m excited to see how it all turns out! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/noahak/type-1?ref=thanks-tweet XX On this week’s long format episode we’re going on a deep dive about stem cell research with the folks at Viactye. They’re working on two fronts now.. encapsulation AND gene editing with the people at CRISPR. Next week you’ll hear from JDRF about the new non-profit insulin they’ve backed. Why will this effort from Civica RX be different? We’ll talk about it. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22555316

Stem Cells as a T1D Cure: Hope vs Hype with ViaCyte 03/22/2022

In the News.. Dexcom G7 approved in Europe, people with diabetes living longer, non-profit insulin and more! 03/18/2022

In the News.. Dexcom G7 approved in Europe, people with diabetes living longer, non-profit insulin and more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week: Dexcom G7 approved in Europe, JDRF speaks out on non-profit insulin plan, Ukraine diabetes aid progress, texting for T2D, Reaction to Pixar's Turning Red -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm ET ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX Our top story this week.. Dexcom gets the CE Mark for it’s new G7 system, which means it’s approved in Europe. The approval is for people ages 2 and up, including pregnant women. I’m putting the full screen photo up here and I’ll post this on the website and in the FB group for those listening.. interesting to finally get a good look at the much smaller applicator – as expected looks a lot like the Libre. Also interesting, all the PR for this has said, developed in partnership with Verily.. remember them? That was part of google, probably best known for saying they were going to develop a contact lens that would monitor glucose. I’ve reached out to Verily, love to know more about this partnership. Anyway, we’ve done a ton on G7, I’ll link up some of our recent conversations with the folks at Dexcom. They submitted to the US FDA at the end of 2021, no firm timeline on US approval. https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/news/dexcom-ce-mark-g7-cgm-system/ XX Some good news about living longer with chronic conditions, including diabetes. This was a 20-year British study that ended in 2011, so one caveat here, it doesn’t include COVID. Men gained 4-point-6 years of life expectancy; women gained 2-point-1. When it comes to disability-free life expectancy, men gained about a year less and women stayed the same. This included people with chronic conditions including those with diabetes. These researchers do point out that while they’d expect to see the same increase in the US – the lack of health and social safety net programs could make a negative difference here. But they point to CGM technology and better medication as making a big difference for those with diabetes. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/why-people-with-chronic-conditions-such-as-diabetes-are-living-longer-without-disability#Cognitive-impairment-is-the-exception XX Children who develop type 1 diabetes show epi-genetic changes in the cells of their immune system long before the antibodies of the disease are detected in their blood. An epigenetic change affects how our genes work. Outside factors such as environmental, viral infections, are usually the cause. These researchers say these are previously unknown changes that signal the increased risk of developing type 1 and could give an even earlier indication than the anti-body marker tests available now. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220316/Epigenetic-changes-could-be-a-biomarker-for-early-detection-of-type-1-diabetes.aspx XX Could text-messaging with their doctors help people with type 2? A new team in Chicago is looking at text-based intervention in underserved communities. The intervention will deliver personalized information directly to patients through text messages, including reminders about self-monitoring and prescription refills, interactive office hours and general information about diabetes, motivational support and answers to frequently asked questions. These doctors say the idea is to create more opportunities for patients to meaningfully engage and reduce barriers by employing technology already in people’s hands. https://today.uic.edu/an-sms-solution-for-type-2-diabetes XX Last week we told you about the effort by Civica RX to make affordable insulin. Civica, is a nonprofit generic pharmaceutical company. JDRF directed funds to this effort and CEO Aaron Kowalski wrote an op ed that I’ll link up. In it, he talks about the success Civica has had lowering the costs of other medications. We’ll have Kowalski on the show soon and I’ve reached out to Civica as well. This would lower the price to $35 a vial no matter your insurance. Congress still hung on a $35 co-pay cap for those with insurance. https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/op-ed-jdrf-leader-on-insulin-affordability-for-all-americans XX Over in the UK they keep moving forward – covering all 400-thousand Britons with type 1 for the Libre CGM. Former guest of the podcast, Dr. Partha Kar, says everyone with type 1 will be able to get a CGM if they want one by the end of March. It will no longer be restricted by who doctors think need it the most. By the way, Briton means someone from England, Scotland or Wales. It’s the first time I’m using that word so UK friends.. let me know if I’ve got it right! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10606335/All-400-000-type-1-diabetic-Britons-offered-high-tech-implant.html XX Still a big need for diabetes help to Ukraine. A lot of the efforts are paying off – Insulin for Life showing that the supplies are on their way or have arrived. Spare a Rose reports that individual donations so far have totaled more than 115-thousand-dollars. I’ll keep linking up places to donate https://www.jdrf.org/blog/2022/03/02/helping-the-diabetes-community-in-ukraine/ XX Reaction to Pixar’s Turning Red. I loved this. I put out a call for photos of people seeing themselves in the movie’s tiny little moments of diabetes representation. Thanks to all who sent those in – you can see them on Diabetes Connections on Facebook and Twitter. And my Stacey Simms account on Instagram. It’s all just one account there. XX While Turning Red had diabetes in the background.. this week on the long format episode we’re talking about a movie that wants to put type 1 front and center. And it’s got the Star Trek community excited as well! Meet the Star Trek Discovery actor with type 1 who’s leading this effort. Next week, we’re going on a deep dive about stem cell research with the folks at Viactye. They’re working on two fronts now.. encapsulation AND gene editing with the people at CRISPR. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22485848

A Star Trek Actor's Next Project: Type 1, The Movie 03/15/2022

A Star Trek Actor's Next Project: Type 1, The Movie What happens when the diabetes community and the Star Trek fandom collide? The actor who brought these groups together spent time as a blue-skinned alien on Star Trek Discovery. Now Noah Averbach-Katz wants to make a movie where T1D is front and center. He shares and about his time in the Star Trek world This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Omnipod take Omnipod dash out for a spin with a no commitment free 30 Day Trial, by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom and by club 1921, where Diabetes Connections are made. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week when the diabetes community and the Star Trek fandom collide! The actor who brought these groups together spent time as a blue skinned alien with a lot of prosthetics on Star Trek Discovery, but he had to find a way to reach his fingers for blood sugar checks. Noah Averbach-Katz 0:45 I sort of explained that to him. And they said, Well, it's fine. We'll just put you in gloves the whole time. So the entire time of my sort of run of the show, I am wearing like black leather gloves. Regardless of what I'm doing. I'm eating breakfast, I'm wearing black leather gloves, I'm flying a spaceship, I'm I'm wearing black leather gloves. And that was just so I can have easy access to my fingers. So I could test. Stacey Simms 1:10 That's Noah Averbach-Katz . And while we talk a lot about Star Trek, he's really here to share the news about a movie he's making called type one. We've got all the info about the Kickstarter campaign to fund it, and other ways you can help. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Always so glad to have you along. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I didn't plan it this way. But it's interesting. This is the second week in a row that we're doing more of a pop culture or media type episode about diabetes. Right? We talked about turning red last week, if you missed that episode, that is the new Pixar movie on Disney plus, that features two characters with diabetes in the background. And I talked to Susan Fogg from Pixar, who made that happen with her whole team, of course, and one of the things that Susan talked about was why it was just fine to have diabetes in the background, right? That's about what isn't her life. That's how it is for many people with diabetes. It's not always front and center. It's not always what you want to talk about. But this week's guest looked at things a little differently. And she'll hear Noah Averbach-Katz wanted to put diabetes front and center and make a movie that didn't feature it in the background. So while I didn't plan, as I said, you know, back to back here, I think it's an interesting contrast. Of course, the other big contrast is that Noah's movie is self-funded, it is on Kickstarter, I am going to link that up right here in the show notes. It'll be at diabetes connections.com. Very easy to get to, as we are taping the Kickstarter is still going on. But if you're listening to this after it is ending, the deadline is March 24 2022. And as you'll hear, he's already exceeded his goal. And we'll talk about how that happened. But it doesn't mean that he still doesn't need the money. This movie is expensive, all movies are expensive, and he shares about where the money will go, even as he has exceeded the goal. So if you are so inclined, I will link that up. You can head over there. There's a preview of the movie and more information. Noah was diagnosed with type one as a teenager, he will share that story. He's an actor, he has been featured in Star Trek Discovery. That's just one of the parts that he has had. And as he mentioned, he is married to Mary Wiseman, who has a starring role in Star Trek Discovery. When they got married in 2019. The New York Times did a write up and I will include that because it's a beautiful story. It's really well written. It's a lot of fun, but I will just share the headline here a life frequently apart, but an enterprise they'll boldly take on. There's a lot of Star Trek in this family. I do need to warn you know what is pretty blunt about diabetes. We all talk about this in different ways. But I would want a heads up if I were listening to this episode with kids. It's not that he's not factual or that he's overly morbid, but when he talks about what can happen, he doesn't pull any punches. So just go into the interview knowing that he's a dry wit and I didn't want to edit what he had to say. So he's blunt. I talked a little bit about my Star Trek fandom during the interview. I'm going to come back and share some stories about that afterwards. Okay, our conversation in just a moment but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Omnipod. And I remember years ago when Benny first started on the Animas insulin pump Yeah, this was a long time ago and upgrade came out but we had to wait years to be eligible for it because of insurance requirements out frustrating is that I'm so glad things are changing. For example, the Omnipod promise takes those worries away with the Omnipod promise you can upgrade to Omnipod five s When it's available to you and covered by insurance, all for no additional upfront cost Omnipod is available through the pharmacy, which means you won't be tied to a long term contract, you're free to upgrade at any time. Not to mention, you can pick your pods up right where you pick up your insulin, go to diabetes dash connections.com and click on the Omnipod logo for full safety risk information and Omnipod promise terms and conditions, visit omnipod.com/diabetes connections. Noah, thank you so much for joining me, I think this is going to be a lot of Noah Averbach-Katz 5:35 fun. My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. Stacey Simms 5:38 Let's just jump in and start off the bat. Tell me about this movie. Before I ask you why you wanted to do something like that. Tell me what type one what is it? Noah Averbach-Katz 5:48 So type one is essentially a short film about a type one diabetic and his wife who in the wake of some sort of societal disaster, I mean, really take your pick these days, they sort of go on a journey to kind of find what they hope as a cache of insulin to keep the guy alive as long as possible. And that's pretty much the thrust of the film. Stacey Simms 6:14 Is it written? Noah Averbach-Katz 6:14 I mean, you've this is all you right? Yes, yes, I of course wrote myself in the starring role as diabetic man. So yes, it's, it's all written. I haven't read it in a really long time. So I'm wondering if it's any good. But I probably should have dipped back in on it before I started the Kickstarter, but it's too late. Now. Stacey Simms 6:34 It's one of those things, be careful what you wish for. Because it's been so successful. Noah Averbach-Katz 6:38 There's a saying that if you really want to freak an actor out, give them the role. I definitely feel that these days. Stacey Simms 6:45 So it doesn't sound like you wrote this to recently tell me the story of how it kind of came to you the idea and your how you started putting it together? Sure, Noah Averbach-Katz 6:53 I was actually doing a play in Baltimore. And in that play, there was a very talented deaf actor named Michelle Edmonds, and she was gracious enough to sort of lead me into the deaf community in a small way, kind of give me some insight on what it means how important it is all the intricacies there were and there were also, you know, translators and other deaf consultants on this show as well. And it just really got me thinking about the diabetes community, and how different it was from the deaf community. In the deaf community. There's so much that is shared between people, there's so much like common, not language, but like common understandings of etiquette and stuff like that. And there are these huge community hubs like Gallaudet University and stuff like that. And in the diabetes community, especially in the type one community, for a lot of reasons, it isn't quite like that. Part of that is, you know, at some would say this is debatable, but I genuinely consider if you choose to be diabetes can be an invisible illness. So you know, you're not sort of having to survive in the same way that people with other non invisible disabilities have to do. I felt at the time, there was a real lack of media of things that people in the diabetic community could sort of rally around and have a common thing to talk about, other than how they handle their care. Pretty much all of the diabetes representation in the current landscape right now, you know, obviously, there's this long list and some are better than others, and some are like iconically bad and some are really trying to be hard. But all of them are really for the abled community. They're not really for the disabled community. And there's nothing really wrong with that, especially when the creators or whoever's writing or producing a movie tries really hard to get things right. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think you'd be hard pressed for any other diabetics to to point to something and say, oh, yeah, that is really represents something about my experience. And I can talk about this, this is a launching point for a conversation with other people. And I was sort of in that headspace. And in this play I was doing, I was playing a dog. And I had these long stretches where I just laid on the floor for like, 45 minutes, and I would just sit there thinking blahdy blah, just random thoughts going through my head. And I sort of thought about this idea, which is, you know, basically the pitch for the movie, and I thought that could be a good idea. That's not a bad idea for a script and like, it's something that is both narratively exciting, and something that I think is a universal experience for type one diabetics, the fear of not being able to get your insulin whether that's through a natural disaster or whether that's through an institutionally caused lack of access. And that was in February, late February of 2020. And then like five weeks later, I was sitting in my house in New York being like, Well, I think I need to write this down. So for the first four or five weeks of quarantine in New York, when we were just completely locked inside, I would wake up early write for an hour. And at the end of that little section, the script was was finished pretty much. Stacey Simms 10:20 I'm curious, when you talk about diabetes in media, I think we all have a story, or a movie, a TV show a book, something that we look at and say, Gosh, really, like, sometimes they get it right. But it's so minor. And sometimes they get it wrong. And it's major. Does there anything that you have seen that you're just like, why? Noah Averbach-Katz 10:37 Well, you know, the one that really has stuck with me over the years is a episode of The Walking Dead. And it's so relevant to this film. It's almost embarrassing, but it's an episode of The Walking Dead, where it's a type one diabetic and his sister. I mean, I don't actually really remember so don't know what I'm sorry. Yeah. And he's dragging this cooler of insulin, and the good guy steals it and gives it back. And then I think they all get eaten by zombies. Yeah, but I just think she goes low, and they give her a shot. Yeah, something like that. And I just remember thinking, I'm sorry, what you This is year four of the zombie apocalypse, and you're just dragging around a cooler of insulin. These efforts are dead, you're dead, you're dead. And I think everybody has this conference, or a lot of people have this conversation, which, you know, what would you do in the zombie apocalypse? I get in my car, do this type of blah. And my answer is, I'm dying. I'm out. And people hate that answer that really drives them. No, no, no. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm the guy who's going to buy you another five minutes by holding them off in the corridor, you know what I mean? Because I'm not surviving this stuff. And that sort of is sort of this other element of this whole movie is, is that experience, you know, of, of really feeling like in media, like so often, disabilities type one, but plenty of other disabilities are used as this sort of plot point where the person who is abled saves the disabled person, and they're the hero, and everything works out. And in reality, it's not that way, because people with disabilities have to fight for themselves, right? You know, in every single case, it's not abled people stepping up to the plate and saying, we're going to change this for you, we're going to do this for you. It's it's people with disabilities, absolutely fighting tooth and nail for whatever they need to make their lives livable with the help of abled allies, right. Of course, they're not doing it on their own, there are people who are assisting them. But it really is the people with disabilities front and center. And so part of this film is also putting that in the middle of it as well. So it it's not necessarily about somebody who is abled, dragging a cooler of insulin through the forest. It's teamwork, it's two people working together to try and accomplish a goal. And the person with the disability is really in the center of the story. Stacey Simms 13:09 So tell us about the Kickstarter, this launched, I think I saw you and you and I started talking, when you were just shy of the goal in the time it took us to set up this interview and talk to each other, you have exceeded the goal by more than I think twice. You're like 200% above it. Can you talk to me a little bit about what you actually are raising money for. For those of us maybe who don't understand what needs to go into a movie, we know it costs a ton of money, Noah Averbach-Katz 13:34 you know, I've never made a movie before. So I'm learning as I go, just how expensive everything is, you know, you have to pay for all this really expensive specialized equipment, you have to pay for the use of a space, you know, we're going to be shooting, like outside of the city center where we live. So we have to rent hotel rooms and rent an Airbnb and very people in and out and pay for everybody's food. You know, we have to compensate to the best of our ability, everybody who's working on the film. And that's not to, you know, include, like professional actors, like my wife, or, you know, a director who could really commend a fee, like Anthony is doing all this for free and helping out with the Kickstarter on top of that. So it's an expensive process. And part of it is I feel such a massive responsibility to make this movie feel as polished and professional as possible, so that everyone has to take it seriously. It doesn't just sort of get pegged as a disability piece. You know what I mean? Because it's maybe because of it as an excuse. Yeah. Oh, well, it looks a little under production value. So I definitely feel a big responsibility to make it feel and look and read like a real professional films and that is is, unfortunately very expensive. Stacey Simms 15:03 All right. One of the things that really got my attention was you did not only get the attention of the diabetes community with your social media campaign and the Kickstarter here, but of course, you got the attention of the Star Trek community and it looks like they have been really generous. I got it. I mean, this is so embarrassing, because all right, I'll show my age. I'm a huge Star Trek fan, but I am a next generation fan. And it never kind of went from there. I started watching the next generation. Mostly I just watched in high school. Then I watched it was in syndication. I don't know if you know what that is. I do. Noah Averbach-Katz 15:33 I'm not that young. Okay. I watched it in syndication to Alright, so Washington syndication I know that Netflix used to send out DVDs It's okay. Stacey Simms 15:43 And then I got busy with life and kids and I missed all the other ones Noah Averbach-Katz 15:47 Miss DS nine, you missed Voyager? No, first contact. My goodness, you've got a lot of catching up to do. Stacey Simms 15:54 I did. I watched all the movies. In fact, we did. We did a rewatch of all of them, including the original movies like with Kirk, we did have during COVID. We'll come back to that because I have some specific Star Trek questions. But let's talk about you and your wife. No, you did not meet on Star Trek. Right? You guys knew each other before it didn't she she was cast. Tell me the story. Well, first Noah Averbach-Katz 16:14 off, let me say this, which is that? You know, our director Anthony Rapp, who is also on Star Trek Discovery, basically has been mentored by Jonathan Frakes, aka Riker. So there is a very strong connection to the next generation in this film. As Anthony sort of has been doing directing on Discovery is Anthony Rapp the same Anthony Rapp from rent. That's correct. The very same. Oh, yes. Yes, we've got all of your favorite nostalgia pics. All in one movie. Stacey Simms 16:47 90s. Rewind. Noah Averbach-Katz 16:50 Yeah, yeah. So Anthony, you would, of course know him is Mark from rent, but he's been in dazed and confused, and eventually babysitting either as a direct connection to the next generation here. So it's not so far out of the realm to bring that up. But Mary and I met at Julliard, we were both classmates there. And I was a big Star Trek fan. And she hadn't really, you know, she, like everybody who grew up in the 90s. In the early aughts had like, watch the next generation, but that's kind of it. And she got an audition for Star Trek. And I was so excited. And I read the lines with her. And that was kind of it. She was supposed to do a slate, which is essentially like, just like a full body shot to see how tall you are. And she came in wearing this flowery flowing dress, sort of a hippie dress. So I would normally never say anything. But this one time, I said, Look, sweetie, you look amazing. But you need to wear something with shoulder pads. And so she came back in, and it's sort of military style jacket. And she got the parts. So that's what I liked. I liked to say that she got the part because of that. Oh, that's so funny. And that was in 2016 17 2017. And then she's just been working on the show. And I got a chance to work on the show as well. And yeah, it's just been a lot of fun for me. I hope she's having as much fun as I am. But I'm certainly having a good time. But Stacey Simms 18:14 what is it but your mother is the biggest Star Trek, right? Noah Averbach-Katz 18:17 This is true. Yes. My mother is of course having the most fun of all. Yes, she's gotten to go to conventions with me when I've been at conventions. She got to go on set and sit in the captain's chair. She really has. Yeah, she really has lived this this wild Star Trek fan dream that she's very, very pleased with herself. And we're all very happy for her. She's having the time of her life. Stacey Simms 18:44 We haven't actually talked about your diabetes. Well, how old were you when you were diagnosed? Noah Averbach-Katz 18:49 I was 13. It was the summer between eighth grade and my freshman year of high school. So that was about 20 years ago. Stacey Simms 18:57 What do you remember about it? Noah Averbach-Katz 18:59 I remember just like feeling kind of, I just remember all the classic symptoms, you know, going to the bathroom all the time being so thirsty, losing a ton of weight. And then my family doctor came in to the office and said... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22430306

In The News... Non-profit insulin in the works, contact lens to treat retinopathy, T1D on the PGA tour and more! 03/11/2022

In The News... Non-profit insulin in the works, contact lens to treat retinopathy, T1D on the PGA tour and more! It's "In the News..." Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top story this week: Non-profit insulin announced, Tandem issues warning on some pumps, a common blood pressure med may help T1D, a potential new treatment for retinopathy and a PGA player misdiagnosed w/T2D speaks out -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX Non-profit drugmaker Civica expects to launch lower-cost versions of insulin in the United States. Civica said it would produce three copycat versions of insulin, and make them available at roughly the same price for all customers, once approved by U.S. health regulators. The company's products, which would be available as both vials and pre-filled pens, are biosimilars to Sanofi Lantus, Eli Lilly's Humalog and Novo Nordisk's Novolog. The maximum price would be no more than $30 per vial and no more than $55 for a box of five pen cartridges. Civica, which was launched by seven health groups to make essential medicines available at affordable prices, expects to file for regulatory approval in 2023 with products available in 2024. https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/civica-aims-to-launch-low-cost-insulin-in-us-by-2024-100701260/ XX Tandem has issued an urgent field safety notice. This in Europe ONLY and is for the t-slim X2 pumps with Basil IQ technology. According to the notice, a user could inadvertently program and confirm a basal rate with an incorrectly placed decimal point. That could mean giving too much or too little insulin. Tandem says you can continue to use the pump after confirming basal rates are correct. A software update is coming. Again, this is Europe only and this is NOT an issue for any pumps on Control IQ https://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/tandem-diabetes-warns-on-some-tslim-x2-insulin-pumps/?fbclid=IwAR0dV04W49iQ1LavAIQMkpleif77XiVqKq7ZrhUiFTrpylem-ZHIByRN8nw XX Interesting new potential treatment for diabetic retinopathy. Retinopathy happens when the disease damages tiny blood vessels in the eye, reducing blood flow to nerve cells in the retina. Treatment can be injections or laser surgery. These scientists are looking at photo-bio-modulation – which involves irradiating the eye with far-red to near-infrared light. This increases oxygen-rich blood flow to the retinal cells. They use an LED contact lens to get the light exactly where its needed. No human tests yet.. so it’s a far way off. https://newatlas.com/medical/led-contact-lens-diabetes-blindness/ XX I don’t have much of an update about diabetes aid to Ukraine except that it’s still very much needed. If you’re so inclined, we’ll link up where you can donate. One partnership I didn’t mention last week is one between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, a group called Direct Relief, and the International Diabetes Federation. They are working closely together to understand where supplies are short, secure donations within and deliver them quickly to where they’re needed. Lots of links to vetted organizations in the show notes and here on our fb page. https://sparearose.org/ https://www.jdrf.org/blog/2022/03/02/helping-the-diabetes-community-in-ukraine/ XX The ordinary blood pressure medication verapamil continues to show benefits in treating type 1 diabetes. Patients taking verapamil required less insulin two years after their type 1 diagnosis and also showed evidence of other surprising benefits. These researchers caution that their study is small and needs to be confirmed by larger clinical studies. There are a few other going on right now.. but the preservation of some beta cell function is very promising. https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/12670-an-oral-medication-shows-benefits-treating-type-1-diabetes-for-at-least-two-years-after-diagnosis XX Two pieces of good news about insurance coverage. Our friends in Ontario, Canada will finally get CGM coverage. Starting March 14th the Assistive Deices Program will cover funding for a CGM and related supplies for people with type 1 . https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/people-with-type-1-diabetes-to-get-government-funding-for-real-time-continuous-glucose-monitors-5126997 XX And in the US military families will have pharmacy coverage for Abbott’s Free Style Libre 2 under Tricare Health. This should make the Flash Glucose Monitor available with zero copay to Tricare members. It begins next month. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/military-members-families-and-retirees-get-simplified-access-to-abbott-s-freestyle-libre-2-system-through-tricare- XX Bringing some awareness of how common a misdiagnosis is when an adult has type 1 diabetes.. professional golfer JJ Spaun is speaking up. He was diagnosed with type 2 but after a couple of years of struggling he found the right doctor and the right diagnosis. He next plays in the Players Championship this weekend we’ll see if we can spot the Libre on his arm. https://www.golfchannel.com/news/after-diabetes-misdiagnosis-jj-spaun-feeling-new-person XX Our long format episode this week is all about Pixar’s Turning Red. There are two background characters in the movie with diabetes and we’ve got the behind the scenes story why. Next week: why the star trek community pushed a T1D kickstarter campaign over the top. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22411118

The Diabetes Connection in Pixar's "Turning Red" 03/06/2022

The Diabetes Connection in Pixar's "Turning Red" When Pixar’s new movie, Turning Red premieres, the diabetes community will probably enjoy the story, but we’ll be looking very closely at a couple of background characters. There are two with diabetes technology on their arms Diabetes isn’t part of the plot here, but it's very visible. We can thank Susan Fong for that. She’s what’s called the Dailies and Rendering Supervisor for Turning Red. Fong lives with type 1 and she’s the one who asked to put diabetes into the movie. We talk about the team effort to get these characters on screen, the balance of math and art that is both diabetes and movie-making 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. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Omnipod. Simplify life with diabetes. by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest and by Club 1921, where Diabetes Connections are made. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week when Pixar’s new movie Turning Red premieres, the diabetes community will probably enjoy the story. But we'll be looking very closely at a couple of background characters. There are too with visible diabetes technology. Diabetes is not part of the plot here, which is kind of the point. Susan Fong 0:45 And sometimes I think that's important. I know a lot of folks get frustrated by the number of questions. They're asked about diabetes, or can you eat that? Should you be eating that? What's that thing on your arm, and sometimes it's just nice to be who you are, and have it not be a part of. Stacey Simms 1:01 That's Pixar’s, Susan Fung. She lives with type one. And she is the person who asked to put diabetes into Turning Red . We talk about the team effort to get these characters on screen, the balance of math and art that is both diabetes and moviemaking, 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. Welcome to another week of the show, always so glad to have you here. If you are new, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. And how cool was it to see people who use insulin in the Turning Red trailer when this came out a couple of months ago, and you know, there was that first trailer, the little teaser, where we saw one child with what looked like a pump infusion set maybe on her arm. We all went bananas. But then the second trailer came out and we saw another kid with diabetes technology. It looked like a Dexcom CGM on her arm. And that prompted 1000s of posts and tons of questions. Well, we've got the answers for you this week. My guest is Susan Fung and she is what is called the dailies and rendering supervisor for Turning Red . She'll explain what that means and how this whole process came together. Susan lives with type one she was diagnosed at age five. Her sister also has type one she was diagnosed a few years later. Susan was Pixar as sequence lead on Seoul, the rendering Supervisor of Coco and she's worked on Brave Toy Story three Wally Up Ratatouille, the list goes on and on. I am really grateful that she spent some time talking to me about diabetes and animation and a lot more. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Omni pod. You know, I'm a big fan of choice when it comes to diabetes technology. I get so excited when there's something new. Because if you live with diabetes, whatever type whatever age, you deserve to find the best fit for you. That's just one reason I'm working with Omnipod to help spread the word about their program that makes it so easy to test their system out. It's the Omnipod dash free trial. If you want to try an insulin pump or see what life without tubes is all about, you can now try Omnipod dash free for 30 days. The trial comes with no commitment or obligation, not right for you. No problem, go to diabetes connections.com and click on the Omnipod logo or go to omnipod.com/diabetes connections for details, Terms and Conditions apply for full safety risk information and free trial Terms and Conditions. Visit omnipod.com/diabetes connections. Susan, thank you so much for joining me. I think the whole community just went bananas when we saw the trailers of the teasers for Turning Red . So to talk to you about how this all happened is just a thrill. Thanks for being here. Susan Fong 3:55 Definitely. Yeah, thanks for having me. Stacey Simms 3:56 Let's just jump right in. Why are there depictions of diabetes in this movie? How does this happen? Susan Fong 4:03 We have a long history of Pixar, of trying to increase diversity and representation on screen. It's largely been motivated by folks in our characters and crowds departments who on each film have made suggestions on what we could incorporate. And I happened to be on read very early. When your supervisor you're one of the first folks to start on the film. And so given that I was on early, which is the best time to make a suggestion. I asked the crowd supervisor like hey, can we get a representation of insulin pump in this movie? And he said, Heck yeah. And then he took that back to our director, our soup tech and kind of what we can consider our production pod and the producer. They made some suggestions about what we could incorporate to increase representation on screen and everyone loved the suggestion of insulin pump. And that's how we got it in the film. Stacey Simms 4:45 Just before we go any further sop tech. Susan Fong 4:48 Is that a sup tech is it the supervising technical director is the supervisor of all the supervisors. Stacey Simms 4:54 Okay. So when you were asking about an insulin pump What did you have in mind kind of to maybe sneak it in, or make it part of the story or just have it somewhere on the on the screen? Susan Fong 5:08 Really, for me, it was just about representation. I think, you know, given that it was a kids movie, or were in middle school, we see a bunch of children on screen. It's something that I don't see, I don't see representation of myself in that way. And so even if it's not a central element of the story, to me, is just still holds value saying like, Hey, kids all look different. We all have something different about us. And this happens to represent how I'm different, at least visibly. Stacey Simms 5:34 When I saw the trailer for Turning Red , I just thought I you know, I don't know the story. As you and I are talking, I haven't seen it yet. It has not yet been released. But even without the depiction of diabetes, you see this pre teen or tween, and then she turns into a panda. It's just such a crazy, fun representation of the madness of puberty. I mean, I assume that's what the movie really is about. And that's a time where you feel so different, whether you have diabetes or not. But having that extra stuff on you has got to be even more of a burden. So I know you were gonna talk about your story. But is that part of what you were thinking about with this kind of movie? Susan Fong 6:11 Yes, I think that is a strong central theme is kind of that challenge of those middle school years. And what happens when you go through puberty. And it is true, that's kind of the phase when a lot of young diabetics become more self conscious, I actually did not get an insulin pump until I graduated from college, I have now had diabetes for have to do some math, I think 38 years. And so it wasn't, you know, available for me when I was that age, which meant it was a little less visible. You know, for me, the way it manifested was a blood glucose meter, always getting eat a snack maybe whenever when other folks didn't. But it did make you always stand out. Stacey Simms 6:45 So let's talk about you. You were diagnosed when you were five years old, in the early 80s. Do you remember any of your own diagnosis? Susan Fong 6:52 I do. And some of it I think when I describe it is likely my interpretation as an adult looking back. I you know, I did listen to one of your podcast episodes a few weeks ago, you were surprised that both folks on the show had misdiagnosis stories, well add me to that list. I came down with some sort of virus kind of standard sore throat kind of thing. We went and saw the doctor says this just a virus sent me home went back a week later, because I wasn't improving. They gave us antibiotics sent me home. Third week, when we come back, my mom was basically frantic at that point, because she could barely keep me awake. And when they tested my blood sugar, actually, the doctor took one look at me and said, Oh God, we got to get her straight to the ER, Mom rushes me to the ER. And then I'm like, basically in an attic consciousness. So I have flashes of like, remembering my mom running and screaming for help beat her up a little bit. Because my mother's amazing. Such a fighter for me, my sister is diabetic too, by the way. And so you know, I was the first to be diagnosed of the two of us. And the doctor just really kind of missed all the signs, you know, massive weight loss, massive thirst, increasing somnolence, you know, couldn't stay awake. And so when they tested my blood sugar, they couldn't, you know, return a value, it was too high to return a value. I was in about a week, I was not sent home with a blood glucose meter, which is crazy. And we were in the middle of a move, which, of course. And so shortly after diagnosis, we moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and I was lucky to be seen at Duke University. And they were much more forward thinking in that day and age of having, you know, everyone have a blood glucose meter. And also using sliding scales for insulin, really deciding on your insulin dose based on what you were eating instead of the other way around. Right. And I remember the horror, when we moved to Atlanta, endocrinologist was like you set your own doses. But I am grateful for that foundation, you know, that Duke gave us so I think I was probably without a meter for maybe four weeks. And that thing of those first blood glucose meters back then it's like three minutes that had a wash bottle. You know, it was Yeah, Stacey Simms 8:56 yeah. Many, many people at that time didn't have a home meter in the early 80s. Is my understanding, at least Yes. Wow. When was your sister diagnosed, Susan Fong 9:04 she was diagnosed, right? In the preteen years, bless her heart. And you know, in our case, we recognize the signs. My sister was complaining about something to my mom, my mom said, Hey, we should check your blood sugar, and it was high. And that's always one of those things where you're testing it. But you're not really thinking about what that next moment is like, if that number pops up. And it's not what you expect. Stacey Simms 9:26 I've talked to parents who have multiple children with type one, but very few siblings. Would you mind talking for a minute of what is that? Like? I'm sure she wanted some support from you, but you're the little sister. And then after a while you do have each other to lean on, but it still had to be devastating. Susan Fong 9:42 I think diabetes was less intensively managed back in that day. And when I think about you know, it is a constant thought woven through every moment of my day as an adult and I think as a child, honestly, I didn't think that way. You know, it was something that you tested your blood at breakfast and dinner You took a shot at breakfast and at dinner, and there was very little thinking in between, because often what they had was you running high enough to avoid the lows, you know, so I had a few critical lows as a child, you know, one of wishes the first day that pool opens and summer. Too many hours in the pool. Yeah, Dad was flying solo that weekend, I'm sure. You know, that was part of the challenge. But it just wasn't as present in my mind. And I think, you know, as we got older, and the technologies improved, and the diabetes complications and control trial results came out. That's really when the shift happened, where we tried to become more intensively managed. And so when I look back at the diagnosis that my sister, while it's devastating, and I'm sure she was devastated, we actually didn't talk about it that much. You know, I think that's just part of the innocence of childhood. Stacey Simms 10:47 Yeah, that makes sense. For sure. One of the things that I found when I was doing some of the research for this episode was a video of you, I think it's three years old, it might be longer, it might be older than that was Khan Academy. And you're kind of explaining your job and explaining things about, you know, how it works at Pixar. And then you talked about diabetes, and you held up the Animas vibe, which I just said off such fond memories of animals. But do you mind if I ask what technology you're using now? Susan Fong 11:15 I'm on the Tandem T slim with Dexcom. Stacey Simms 11:17 If you're not familiar as you listen, it went under business a few years ago. But in that video, you talk a little bit about math and diabetes and math and art and your job. I thought that was fascinating. Could you speak a little bit about how all that goes together. Susan Fong 11:32 And again, our technology has improved. But as a diabetic, I measure almost everything I eat on a food scale. And so there's a constant exercise of math of I read the package, and it says there's 20 grams of carbohydrates for 30 grams of weight. And now on my scale, I have 60 grams of weight than how many carbs do I have. So there's constant calculations like that, that you're doing. And I've also mentioned, both in my job and in diabetes, the importance of kind of gut instinct, that the longer you're diabetic, the more comfortable you are operating on gut instinct. As I know, I should take this amount of insulin for 40 grams. But because I did this intensive fitness class this morning, I'm going to lie and take a little less. And so there's a kind of a math fine, you know, is your foundation, and it helps validate your gut instincts, but you're still going to modify things from there, it's not the end all be all. And in my job, so much of what I do is predicting the amount of farm meaning render farm cores or number of CPUs or computers, you can think of it that we need to make our film on any given day. And I start doing this forecast about three years before the film comes out. And so I am constantly playing with math, you know, figuring out if this department has this many shots to do, and this is the average cost per shot, how much farm do they need on a given day. And all of that is graphed and plotted over time. And it just reminds me so much of when I look at now my Dexcom graph on my MIT swim or on my phone, and I'm looking at these graphs, and I'm looking for anomalies like, Hey, this looks a little high, Hey, that looks a little off, hey, this is going up faster than I expect. And it's all of the same things that I'm doing at work. When I'm looking at the validation of the data, I have that gut instinct of you begin to recognize the patterns over time. And then your gut kicks in and says this pattern looks wrong to me. And that's when you dive in and figure out what you know how to Stacey Simms 13:24 fix it. I remember when my son was diagnosed, our endocrinologist said, you know, you have to understand diabetes is just as much art as science. And I understand that kind of in theory, but the way you're talking about it really makes sense is your your work must be just as much science as art and artists science as well. Susan Fong 13:42 Definitely. I mean, I think, you know, there's so much more art, I would say in my job, then definitely than in the world of diabetes, there's the art of gut instinct, for sure. You know, working at Pixar, I'm so lucky that the math I do, ultimately results in a pretty picture at the end of the day. And I and that is how I got interested in working for a company like Pixar is I was in undergraduate school at Georgia Tech. And I took a class that was intro to graphics. And one of the things they have you do is write a math program that draws a single pixel at a time. The technology back then that we used was called ray tracing. So I wrote a ray tracer, that first time you generate a photorealistic image, just from writing text in a text editor. It's magic, you can't believe that you can do it. And that's really what the art of rendering is. There's a lot of complex math that goes into it, some of which I am familiar with, but it's more handled by our engineers. But that math is all based on the laws of physics. And the laws of physics dictate how lighting bounces around the room, or how you know, skin is slightly translucent, if it has a light source behind it. And so those kinds of things. We have a physical measurements of real world data that inform equations that we use to replicate that on screen. So it's really kind of a fascinating place to be with math and One pence to the accountants of the world. But no. When I think of what's a career in math as a kid, that's kind of what I would think of as something like, you know, being an accountant. And that did not hold enough interest for me. For me, it was more about what can I do with math that does tie back into some of my core passions, for things like art, photography, just the beauty of the world. Stacey Simms 15:22 It's interesting. I always wanted to be a journalist, you know, I spent my career in broadcasting. And when I was a freshman in college, one of my first assignments was, I was so lucky, they did a press tour for The Little Mermaid, the movie, it wasn't finished. But they showed a lot of the unfinished animation to us. And they talked about how difficult it was to get her hair to swirl around underwater. And I always think about that, when I watch you laughing at that. Susan Fong 15:47 I'm not, I just I've spent I've done a lot of work on hair over the years. Okay, that is a challenge. Okay, Stacey Simms 15:53 so when I remember they took her hair, I think about that almost every time I watch an animated movie, and I cannot believe how realistic it's getting. I cannot believe how far it's common. And you know, I know it's just the beginning is that realism that we're seeing? Is it all the computers animation getting better is it people knowing how to manipulate it better, isn't just so much, or the computer so much more powerful, Susan Fong 16:15 it's all three. So see anything about simulation simulation of something like hair or cloth, we start with a physical space solution that our director of software engineering who has a PhD from UC Berkeley, she has written along with her team, a simulator, and that kind of is the first thing that our simulation team will will run. But there are many cases that kind of physically accurate, isn't what the director is looking for. And that's where the art of simulation comes in. Of if the director is saying they want a different shape, try to think of a good example, like in the movie Brave, when Maratha has a hood up and then pulls it back over her long curly hair. That was a very art directed shot. If you just ran a physics simulator, that's not what it would look like. And so you know, you have to learn to incorporate, you know, ways of tweaking that that base foundation to kind of give the look that you're looking for. It's really one of those things where it marries everything you've said, there's better software that you know, is based on the laws of physics, there's faster computers that can run more complex calculations. And then we evolve our artistry over time, and our simulation artists have gotten better at better at the art side of simulation,... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22329473

In the News... Diabetes help for Ukraine, is COVID-related diabetes temporary? T1D college scholarships & more! 03/04/2022

In the News... Diabetes help for Ukraine, is COVID-related diabetes temporary? T1D college scholarships & more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week include: where to donate if you want to help people with diabetes in Ukraine, a look at cases of COVID-induced diabetes that seem to be temporary, Dexcom gets FDA breakthrough status for use in hospitals, insulin prices mentioned in the State of the Union, T1D college scholarships and learning more about a non-invasive glucose monitoring system called SugarBeat. -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon. XX Our top story.. a lot of you were asking about help for people with diabetes in Ukraine. I didn’t jump right into this last week because I get very concerned about scams. We hate to think anything about diabetes isn’t on the up and up.. but we need to be careful. I was really glad to see Insulin for Life, which is very well known and well-run, stepping in here. And easy way to donate to them is through Spare a Rose for Ukraine. This is the annual campaign centered around valentine’s day that usually runs through February.. they’re extending it through March. All donations will be directed to Insulin for Life, a registered charity with over two decades of experience providing insulin and diabetes supplies to under-resourced countries, and responding to emergencies. Their international consortium and network in Europe, with partners in Ukraine and neighboring countries, has supplies ready to go if, when and where needed. https://sparearose.org/ https://www.jdrf.org/blog/2022/03/02/helping-the-diabetes-community-in-ukraine/ XX As doctors learn more about people who develop COVID-related diabetes they’re finding blood sugar returns to normal a few months later. Researchers studied 600 patients who showed signs of diabetes while hospitalized for COVID-19, including 78 with no previous diagnosis of diabetes. Compared to patients with pre-existing diabetes, many of the newly diagnosed patients had less severe blood sugar issues but more serious COVID-19. Roughly a year after leaving the hospital, 40% of the newly diagnosed patients had gone back to blood sugar levels considered non-diabetic. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-related-diabetes-may-be-temporary-racial-disparities-widen-with-omicron-2022-02-25/ XX Scotland has nearly 2-million people in a huge ongoing COVID study. The latest info from that shows no association with a COVID infection causing type 1 diabetes in children less than 16 years old. Type 1 in children increased to about 1.2 times the average during the pandemic but it doesn’t seem to have been caused by COVID. The US CDC has said otherwise, that there does seem to be a causal link between COVID and type 1. In all the studies so far, getting a COVID vaccine was not associated with incidence of type 1 diabetes https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/969166 XX Good news about using the Dexcom CGM in the hospital. The FDA has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for Dexcom for healthcare professionals to monitor and manage glucose levels… in adults who use insulin while in the hospital. We first talked about this in 2020 when the FDA temporarily allowed hospital CGM use because of COVID. Dexcom created a special page on their website to provide resources to clinicians.. I’ll link that up. https://www.dexcom.com/hospitalcovid-19 XX Researchers say they’re making progress into amyloid, a key molecule in the pancreas that contributes to type 2. For the first time, scientists say they’ve uncovered the step-by-step changes that take place in a molecule known as human islet amyloid polypeptide. It’s helpful in the body until it changes into a more damaging form. The researchers said their findings, raise the possibility of new treatments for type 2 diabetes and other amyloid-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/969265 XX There is a huge psychological barrier against starting insulin for those with type 2. A new web-based resource is hoping to help with that. One in four adults with type 2 report being unwilling to start insulin once it’s recommended. These Australian researchers designed an online resource called “Is insulin right for me?” They went through eight psychological barriers like “does insulin mean my diabetes is more serious?” Then they went through the educational process around each. This was a very small study – fewer than 40 people- but the response was positive enough to continue toward a broader roll out. Editorial here – I speak to people all the time who feel like starting insulin is a failure of will power. I get it, we should all eat better and exercise more.. but no one feels the same shame about blood pressure medication. I’m glad to see this getting some attention. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220228/online-education-may-ease-insulin-fears-of-adults-with-type-2-diabetes XX The price of insulin came up in the State of the Union speech this week. President Biden talking about lowering prescription drugs and capping the price of insulin for the insured. He singled out 7th grader Joshua Davis from Virginia, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 11 months old. Joshua’s father also lives with type 1 and the family were guests of the first lady during the state of the union. It’s not clear if any of the measures to lower prescription drugs will actually get through congress. XX We’re keeping up the non-invasive glucose monitoring news.. and the latest contender is sort of an old one. The My Sugar Watch is said to be moving forward and could be available this year. MySugarWatch is a licensee of the BEAT sensor, also known as SugarBEAT, from Nemaura Medical. The SugarBEAT CGM has been around for a while, getting its CE Mark European approval in 2019. It’s a small patch that sticks onto your skin for 24 hours, then you replace it. The transmitter sends wireless readings to a smartphone app via Bluetooth every 5 minutes. They submitted to the FDA in early 2020.. with what looks like an updated submission last year. No word on a timeline or US rollout. https://www.notebookcheck.net/MySugarWatch-needle-free-continuous-glucose-monitor-for-type-2-diabetes-on-the-cards-as-award-winning-Nemaura-posts-encouraging-financials.605046.0.html XX If you’ve got a high school senior with type 1 – you may want to check out Diabetes Scholars. Applications are open now. There is one application to be considered for any and all of the scholarships.. it closes March 27th. You must be a high school senior with Type 1 diabetes seeking a higher education at an accredited two or four year university, college, technical or trade school in the United States. And you must be a US citizen or permanent resident. https://diabetesscholars.org/ XX Our long format episode this week is all about Eversense – we take a deep dive into this implanted CGM system. The FDA just approved the E3 which lasts 180 days – six months – with no sensor changes. Next week? The real story behind the character with diabetes in Pixar’s turning red. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22329242

Eversense E3: The 6-Month CGM 03/01/2022

Eversense E3: The 6-Month CGM In February, the FDA approved the That means you could have a CGM working – with no sensor changes needed – for up to six months. That’s been available in Europe for a while, but in the US it’s been a maximum of three months. As you’ll hear, the people at Eversense have even bigger goals. This week, you'll hear from Senseonics Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Fran Kaufman. We get the basic info about the device, the plan for working with pump companies, a look ahead and much more. Imagine one year without a sensor change! Dr. Kaufman is also a practicing endocrinologist and she’s been seeing patients for more than 40 years. She has a passion for this community and a lot to say about what truly helps patients thrive with diabetes. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. .. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom and by Club 1921, where Diabetes Connections are made. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms This week Eversense is an implantable continuous glucose monitor. It just got FDA approval for a 180 day where that's six months with the dose sensor changes. Something else that makes it different. It can vibrate to let you know if you're low or high. Dr. Fran Kaufman 0:39 And then people really, really enjoy that long term concept, as well as vibratory alerts. We've got people who work on the tarmac at the airport and they can't hear anything. So the only way they can actually do this is with the vibratory alerts. Stacey Simms 0:52 That's the company's chief medical officer, Dr. Fran Kaufman, we go in depth on the Eversense system talking about how it all works, accuracy, and looking ahead to whether they'll partner with any insulin pumps for a closed loop. And they have big plans to make the system last even longer. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Oh, we so glad to have you here. We aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. If you are new, my son was diagnosed with type one right before he turned two that was back in 2006. He is now 17 years old. My husband lives with type two diabetes. I don't have diabetes, I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get the podcast. And I have been doing this podcast since June of 2015. I looked back in the show archives. They're all on the website. You can use a search box to find what you're looking for. But I looked back and we first talked to Eversense in October of 2018. We actually talked about Eversense at that time, not with the company. I talked to Darryl Greene. He was one of the first people in the US to get the sensor implanted. He is a news anchor. And he did it for his show, he showed the video of the implant the whole thing. I will link that up in the show notes so you can hear what Darrell had to say at the time and see an early version of Eversenseit has changed a bit since then. But as you will hear this week, it is subcutaneous it's just under the skin. And that is where the Dexcom or libre or Medtronic Guardian sensor lies, but you can't insert it yourself. It is a quick outpatient procedure. It's minor but it is still a procedure. The flip side that's it for six months, no supply orders, no changing sensors. My guest here to talk about it and answer a bunch of your questions is Dr. Fred Kaufman. She is the Chief Medical Officer of sin psionics. The company that makes Eversense she is a pediatric endocrinologist who still sees patients and I could take the whole episode to read off her accomplishments. She's been in practice for 40 years, director of the comprehensive childhood Diabetes Center and head of the Center for endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, former president of the American Diabetes Association, chair of the National Diabetes Education Program, on and on. And she has authored over 250 Scientific manuscripts and numerous books. I love talking to people like Dr. Kaufman, because yes, she's a very accomplished woman. She obviously knows her stuff. But you will hear her passion for this community. She is really in it to help all patients living with diabetes. Quick note, I realized, as I was listening back, I do that a lot with these interviews for editing and you know, editorial reasons, I didn't ask about the capacity to share the sensor data in real time, right share and follow for something like this, Eversense has had that for a while. They don't use the same terms. They call it Eversense Now. And that doesn't change with the three the latest iteration of Eversense does have the capacity for other people to follow the user’s numbers. And I know that's important to a lot of you. I didn't want to imply that it isn't available by leaving it out of this interview. So you don't hear about it. That's on me. But it is there. Here's my interview with Dr. Kaufman. Dr. Kaufman, thank you so much for joining me. There's so much to learn about this system. My listeners are very interested. Thanks for spending some time with us. Dr. Fran Kaufman 4:30 Well, thanks for having me. Stacey Simms 4:31 I would usually start by asking you to talk about the latest and greatest this FDA approval that came through. But let's back up just for a minute. For people who are not familiar. Can you take us through what the system consists of here kind of set the table of what we're talking about when we say ever since? Well, I'd Dr. Fran Kaufman 4:48 love to because I think understanding the system really enables you to understand this new innovation we have with our Eversense three system, the overall Eversense CGM Is three components. It is a fully implanted sensor very small, it's about three millimeters by 13 millimeters, and it's placed under the skin in the subcutaneous space, which is where all the sensors are working. They're all measuring the same glucose values in that interstitial space in what we call the interstitial fluid. But this is placed minor office procedure done by healthcare providers that we train and certify, we also give them the tools to be able to do both the insertion. And then when the time comes the removal of the sensor and the insertion of the next sensor. That's the center. It is a fluorescent technology, all the other CGM systems are enzymatic. So that is another distinguishing feature for us, and then placed over the sensor with a very mild silicone-based adhesive is a transmitter and the transmitter through near field energy powers the center, and that enables the sensor to read the interstitial glucose, give it back to the transmitter, the transmitter then sends it to the app on your smartphone. And that's where you can visualize your glucose value. But our transmitter held in place, again with a very mild silicone-based adhesive. So there are fewer skin reactions, also has a very unique capability of on body vibratory alerts. So if you don't have to have your smartphone sitting in your lap, you want to run upstairs for something you want to run outside, you want to take a bike ride without your cell phone, then you will get the alerts right on body, the transmitter itself will vibrate. And you'll know whether you're going high or low with your glucose values. And that's a feature that many many people truly enjoy and appreciate. And then the app is pretty much like all the apps, you can view your glucose every five minutes, the arrows for the directional change of your glucose-to-glucose curve for the last three hours, six hours, whatever you'd like. And it also, of course, has alert both auditory as well as visual on the cell phone itself. So those are the three major components and lots that differentiate us. Stacey Simms 7:16 Yeah, I let me go through a little bit of what you said kind of break it down even further, you mentioned that the sensor uses something different to measure glucose level this is based on light or fluorescence, can you kind of explain that a little bit more or as much as you can, some of its proprietary, Dr. Fran Kaufman 7:34 you well, and then lay terms so that I can understand it. I am a physician at OSI you know not a an engineer. But essentially, this sensor is composed of a sensing surface where glucose attaches reversibly dependent on how much glucose the sensor is exposed to at that point in time. And of course, this interstitial fluid is moving. So you know it's bringing glucose continuously to the sensing surface. And then the power is to turn on little LEDs that light up that sensing surface in a full arrest by how much glucose is attached. And that fluorescence n is equal to the concentration of glucose. Stacey Simms 8:18 Can you see that under your skin? Can you see that happening? Do like is there like a little light show going on? Dr. Fran Kaufman 8:23 No. Other Yep. Could it be cool? Stacey Simms 8:29 Maybe that's an add on feature for the future. I'd also heard this was a while ago. So this may have changed. I had heard that earlier iteration of this technology made it that it was sensitive to light. In other words, if you were exposing that site to sunlight a lot, it didn't work as well. Well. So Dr. Fran Kaufman 8:45 there it rarely occurs. But there is something called an ambient light alert, if there is a lot of sun exposure. And this is mainly because that tape is peeling. So the sides of the transmitter are a little bit more exposed. It will pick up in ambient light tell you what can't reliably read the glucose and ask you to you know, either cover it or you know, get out of the sunlight. Stacey Simms 9:09 Also, if, as I said, kind of going through it step by step of what you mentioned, let's talk a little bit more about how the transmitter connects. I saw someone on Instagram recently showing how it is, for lack of a better word seems very easy to Ristic she was kind of taking it on and off on and off quickly showing how easy and how different it is. Does that sound accurate? In other words, I think we're used to these devices staying on and we want to stick them as tight as humanly possible and then we rip them off like a really tight bandage. This is very different. Dr. Fran Kaufman 9:40 Well this is very different so it's not holding the sensor in place right the sensor is fully implanted. So if this falls off, you do not lose a sensor. You just place it back on so the adhesive tape you know obviously sticks on one side to you on the other side to the transmitter and a few hit a door way or Your reference tumbling with your kids and a falls off, you can just place it right back on to that same adhesive. Or if you need a new adhesive, you know, there, you're just carrying a one little piece of adhesive in your purse or in your pocket. And that's all you really need to carry around with you. Stacey Simms 10:16 I don't know if this will ring a bell with you. But it seems to me like your color forms, which were like kind of stickers, but kind of not you could take them on and off a few times. That's what this reminds me of. Dr. Fran Kaufman 10:27 I'm not sure exactly know what you mean. But what what this is, is something that's very mild on the skin, we do ask you to replace it every day, take it off, clean the skin, let it breathe for a little bit while you're taking your shower, drying off and then place it right back on. So it's not that you have a piece of tape on for now what will be six months, you're changing that tape and letting the skin breathe. And of course, the tape is breathable as well. Stacey Simms 10:55 That's a great point. I didn't want to imply that when I say take it on and off a bunch of times that it's more than a day. What changed recently, what did the FDA approve, that got everybody so excited? Dr. Fran Kaufman 11:05 Well, we're like everybody, right? We are continuously innovating listening to the voice of our customer who is the person with diabetes healthcare provider. And one of the things we continuously heard was people want a sensor that lasts even longer. I mean, we're lasting 90 days in the US, it was already 180 days outside of the US. But for both, this is the next iteration for both. So this is our really, we call it a three because it's really our third sensor iteration. So some chemistry changed is you can imagine some of the other little minor things also changed. But the major change was in that sensing surface, allowing it to have a chemistry change that enables it to last really reliably for the six month time period. You know, whenever we put something in the body, the body reacts, and the way the body reacts to our sensor and the other sensors is it kind of oxidizes it, it surrounds it, it does a lot of other things to it. This chemistry change enables that reaction to be less significant over time, so that the sensing capability remains really excellent for a much longer period of time before we can get the six month indication. Talk to me a little Stacey Simms 12:23 bit about the clinical trials that I'm sure were done for this when you're talking about six months. The questions my listeners had mostly about this was like, well, what could go wrong? Right? What if I want to get this taken out? Or what if it irritates me, it tell me a little bit about the people who've already done this. Dr. Fran Kaufman 12:39 So there's our clinical trial, the promise trial that involved 181 individuals wearing actually more than one sensor for the most part. And then there's our vast really commercial experience both outside the US as well as the inside of the US where 1000s of patients have used the sensors. worse, worse, worst worst case scenario, you decide you don't want to have a CGM at all you can get it removed, or you could actually leave it in place till the time duration is up and get it removed, then there's really no compelling indication that you have to get it removed right away. If you don't want it or if it stops working. It actually is kind of okay as a permanent implant. Although that is not what we're asking people to do. We are asking them, as well as the FDA asking them to get it removed when the time comes. So that would be worst case scenario. For the most part, once it's placed in the skin, the skin is healed. Again, the mild adhesive on the scan, really, people enjoy it want it needed if but our system, rather than have no sensor at all, if you decide for a period of time, you don't want to wear the transmitter. Maybe you're getting married, maybe you're going to Hawaii and you willing to go without your CGM, which of course, for me and my patients, that would be a big no, no, then you can just take the transmitter off, charge it, then put it in a drawer and put it back on when you come back home. So it gives you that option. If you don't want to wear the transmitter to take it off for a period of time, or take it off, you know, an hour a day or two hours a day, whatever you'd like to do. There's a lot more flexibility because you're not losing the sensor at that point. Stacey Simms 14:23 Yeah, talk to me about that, because I'm imagining and I've shared this on the show before my son is very interested in this, especially because of sports and wrestling in particular, he thought it would be so great to be able to take the transmitter on and off. Well, you haven't off. You've already mentioned the sensor will still alert you you know it'll vibrate. Dr. Fran Kaufman 14:39 As soon as that transmitter is off. You do not get any sensor readings at all. So Stacey Simms 14:45 my mistake. Yeah, my mistake. I thought for some reason it vibrated under the skin even without it. Dr. Fran Kaufman 14:49 No, no, it's not the sensors not vibrating in your body. It's a transmitter on top of your skin that's vibrating. Stacey Simms 14:55 Got it. Okay, talk to us a little bit about accuracy. What you found commercially as you mentioned clinical trials. I think my listeners are pretty familiar with Mark. But can you speak to that? Dr. Fran Kaufman 15:04 Absolutely. I have been in the field of diabetes since 1978. So I'm old. And I'm really proud of it. And I've seen so much what I started with animal insulin and urine testing. And obviously, what I've seen in my own career a lifetime is awe inspiring. Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten us all where we want to be, which is done with this disease all together. But it has made obviously management. So much more important, easier, better, difficult, whatever you want to say. But we do now have a lot of tools and technology that can improve people's management. One of them is CGM. And those early CGM, which I was involved with, when I was in academic medicine, as an investigator were wonderful, you couldn't rely on them to make a dose adjustment, for sure. But you could get patterns and trends and see what was kind of happening overnight, it was really an amazing advancement, then as the accuracy continued to get better for these devices, we were able to look at a point in time and say, That's what my glucose value is, I can dose off that glucose value, which of course is what you're able to do with our sensor. And then you got more and more accuracy. And now, that's what you know, really, your value is. So our accuracy is measured by Maher during our promise trial. And one of the issues we have to face is, the longer the duration the sensor last, the longer our clinical trials have to last. So if you got a sensor that last seven days, your trial seven days, if it last 14 days, your trials, 14 days, in the last 180 days, your trials, 180 days, and one day, we'll get up to 365. So we'll have these really long trials that will be arduous for the patient and our clinical investigators, and a long time to get the results. But so for the six month trial, people came in 10 times about 10 hours each time, we drove them high and low, so that we could get across the sensor life as well as across all the glucose values from 40 to 400. To see the accuracy of our EversenseII three system and the MAR turnout overall to be 8.5, which is excellent. We're really happy with that Mart, it's you know, it's among best in class for CGM center available. And as always, the mart is leased. On the first day, of course, we only have one first day every six months, whereas sensors it's every week or every 10 days or every 14 days. And then it really settles down and all the way till the end of sensor life. 180 days they are busy was at that point still below eight, below eight below eight. Wow, you know, you have to put all the seven days first. So we did first day seven, day 14, day 21, day 30, day 60, day 90 day 120 150 and 180 day evaluation. So when you put all those together, it turns out to be a mark of 8.5. And then of course it's in the hypo range, we had an excellent mark, also a little bit less than eight in the hyper we had an excellent Mark less than eight. So it really is a pretty excellent system. Stacey Simms 18:24 Is it simplistic to assume that gets better as it goes? Or does it get better for a certain point, and then it gets a little higher? Well, actually, Dr. Fran Kaufman 18:32 we could have assumed that. But it turns out it's highest at the beginning and then pretty much stayed around the low aids, high sevens the rest of the time period. Stacey Simms 18:42 I'll confirm this. But I don't believe any other CGM in the US has a mark that is under eight. I don't know that you can talk about it like that, as you said it's 8.5 for the whole life of the sensor. But that's really interesting. Dr. Fran Kaufman 18:54... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22279472

In the News... Vitamin D, Endos and Telehealth, Type 1: The Movie and more! 02/25/2022

In the News... Vitamin D, Endos and Telehealth, Type 1: The Movie and more! It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week include: a look at Vitamin D in newly diagnosed kids with type 1, new study about bariatric surgery, type 2 and COVID, endos are the top specialty adopting telehealth and a look at a new movie about type 1 - find out why it also has backing from the Star Trek community! -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. If you’re new we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX Looking to get organized? Diabetes supplies can really add up and all that pump and CGM stuff or even shots and wipes and strips can clutter everything up. I’ve got a great new guide to help you out. It’ll get you started and keep you organized. That’s totally free and it’s over on the podcast homepage. XX A new study adds to the idea that Vitamin D might help with type 1 diabetes in kids. These researchers look at young people ages 10-21 and found that a supplement of Vitamin D2 may improve insulin sensitivity and slow the increase of A1C for those newly diagnosed. This was over the course of a year. Very small study, fewer than 40 kids and teens, and all of them diagnosed for three months or less. A lot more to learn here.. but the study is in the Journal of the Endocrine Society. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220221/vitamin-d2-supplement-may-slow-progression-of-newonset-type-1-diabetes-in-children XX This is more business news.. but something to keep an eye on.. RosVivo has signed with Eli Lilly for commercial development. Rosvivo has a drug said to be a game changer to treat diabetes and obesity. Lilly will now review and move it forward. The drug is said to restore the function of beta cells that secrete insulin, the cause of diabetes, and at the same time lowering insulin resistance. Animal studies only but we’re keeping an eye on this one. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rosvivo-therapeutics-inc-signed-material-125200372.html XX Provention Bio has resubmitted the Biologics License Application (BLA) for teplizumab. This is the drug that shows a delay of clinical type 1 diabetes for three years. The FDA said “no” last year.. but it did so in a way that left the door open, so Provention has done what’s been asked and is now resubmitting. The CEO says quote - “We continue to proceed with a sense of urgency, recognizing that significant unmet need exists for patients and their caregivers.” https://www.empr.com/home/news/drugs-in-the-pipeline/provention-bio-resubmits-bla-for-teplizumab-to-delay-type-1-diabetes/ XX The link between high blood pressure and diabetes seems to come down to a small protein cell. An international team shows this glucagon like peptide called GLP-1 pairs up the body’s control of blood sugar and blood pressure. Doctors have known for a long time that high blood pressure and diabetes go together, but this is the first time the reason for that has been found in the body. GLP-1 is released from the wall of the gut after eating. It also stimulates a small sensory organ in the neck. These researchers say GLP-1 is just the start for more study. https://scitechdaily.com/long-standing-enigma-finally-cracked-link-discovered-between-high-blood-pressure-and-diabetes/ XX More support for bariatric surgery as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. A study found that adults with obesity who had weight loss surgery and achieved “substantial weight loss” before contracting COVID reduced their risk for severe infection by 60% compared to those who didn’t have surgery. The study was conducted by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic. Previous studies have found that in obese patients with type 2, bariatric surgery sends it into remission more than 75% percent of cases. https://blogs.bcm.edu/2022/02/21/bariatric-surgery-helps-with-diabetes-leads-to-better-covid-outcomes-study-finds/ XX Throughout the COVID 19 pandemic, endocrinologists have had the highest rates of… telehealth adoption. This study released by Doximity – we’ve spoken to them on the show – looked at telehealth claims from January 2020 to June of 2021. As expected, younger physicians used telehealth more than their older counterparts. And they say the research shows that telehealth can successfully help manage diabetes – and that it even lowers A1C in people with type 2. They don’t say why.. but I’d think it’s because it’s easier to get a visit in remotely. Interestingly they also did a top five for metro areas with the highest telehealth adoption. They were: Boston, Baltimore, Charlotte, Philly and San Francisco. https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-adoption-highest-among-diabetes-gi-care-providers XX The World Health Organization is looking for people living with diabetes for an international focus group. They say they hope to foster solidarity and policy action between people living with diabetes, while acknowledging and highlighting differences in treatment and management needs between different types of diabetes. The focus group will be held March 9 and 10 live and online. We’ve linked up the survey you need to fill out to be considered. https://extranet.who.int/dataformv3/index.php/257838?lang=en XX An ambitious project to make a movie about type 1 diabetes in a dystopian world is moving along via kickstarter. Noah Averbach-Katz is an actor and writer and has lived with type 1 for more than 20 years. He says too often a disabled person is reduced to a plot point - a problem that gives the abled hero an opportunity to save the day. He wants to tell a story that captures the fears, trials, and experiences of a Type 1 diabetic. The Star Trek community is rallying behind this – Averback Katz and his wife Mary Wiseman are both part of the Star Trek Discovery series. The kickstarter goes until March 24th. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/noahak/type-1 XX As we hinted last week, Omnipod has a fun crossover with Nintendo. The very popular Switch game, Animal Crossing now has a new diabetes-themed designed by Insulet. It’s known as Omnipod Bay, you add it to the game with a special code. Omnipod Bay features booths from selected diabetes charities as well outfits, diabetes supply bags and diabetes-themed areas and activities. I asked – no little podcast headphone as of this time! The game add-on comes just two weeks after Insulet’s Omnipod 5, was cleared by the FDA. XX Our long format episode this week is with the Lauren Bongiorno, a diabetes health coach who is a terrific example of why it’s not a great idea to aim for perfect with diabetes. She shares how her A1C was basically perfect during college but that she… was miserable. And next week.. all about Eversense, the 6 month CGM. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22241693

When a "Star" Patient Isn't Happy - How Lauren Got Her Diabetes Groove Back 02/22/2022

When a "Star" Patient Isn't Happy - How Lauren Got Her Diabetes Groove Back Lauren Bongiorno was diagnosed with type 1 as a child and growing up, she showed every sign of success. She was a division one athlete, playing soccer in college and achieved the lowest A1C her endo had seen in a college student.. but while her care team celebrated that 5.7, she was miserable. Lauren shares how she took control and got that happiness back. She’s now a We talk about some common pitfalls, the pressure to be perfect and what coaching really means. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! ----- Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom and by Club 1921 Where Diabetes Connections are made. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, Lauren Bongiorno was diagnosed with type one as a child and growing up she showed every sign of success. She was a division one athlete playing soccer in college and achieved the lowest A1C her endo had ever seen in a college kid. But while her care team celebrated, she was miserable. Lauren Bongiorno 0:41 And I was sitting there and it was like literally an out of body experience because I'm watching like the doctor, high five, my mom and my five each other and I was like, I'm not happy, I'm not happy. Stacey Simms 0:52 Lauren shares how she took control and got that happiness back. She's now a diabetes coach. We talk about some common pitfalls, the pressure to be perfect and what coaching really means. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I am 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. As I'm taping the intro to this episode. I am like you sifting through some FDA approvals these seem to be coming in fast and furious now or at least as fast and furious as the FDA does anything. But after a very long logjam, you know, this is all stopped up by COVID. It really seems like things are moving along. So to that end, this episode will not focus on tandems mobile bolus, which was just approved, you know, bolus by phone or the ever since CGM 180 day where approval. Those were the two biggies over the last week. And I am going to focus on them in upcoming episodes ever since should actually be next week. And Tandem a couple of weeks after that. As always, if you'd like to get your questions asked please join us in the Facebook group Diabetes Connections, the group if you're not on Facebook, no problem. Shoot me an email Stacey at diabetes connections.com. I have my own set of questions. But I always want to hear from you. And your questions are always fantastic. So please send them in. But there is a lot more to diabetes than technology. You all know that. And I wanted to share Lauren Bongiorno’s story, because I think this really resonates for parents of kids with type one. And for adults with diabetes, nobody's harder on us than we are on ourselves, right and the pursuit of perfection. It's just gonna mess you up. I'll let Lauren share her story. But just for background, She is the CEO and head coach at a company she founded called Risely that's a bit of a play on how in diabetes arise isn't a good thing. You know, an arrow up on your CGM, a higher A1C , their website says type 1 diabetes has given rise a bad reputation. But we think it's time we reclaim it. I think that's really clever. And I think this is the first time I've spoken with a health coach on the show. So we talk about what exactly that is, and why somebody would choose to work with a coach along with a medical provider. Here's my talk with Lauren Bongiorno. Lauren, thanks for spending some time with me and my listeners. I'm so excited to talk to you. Lauren Bongiorno 3:33 Oh, thank you so much for having me on. Stacey. I'm so looking forward to this conversation. Yeah, I Stacey Simms 3:38 feel like I've we've connected and I've seen you, you know, all over social media. So I'm, I'm really excited to kind of hear more of your story and share your experiences. Because just the little bit that I know, I feel like you're kind of the embodiment of why perfect doesn't always work out with diabetes, if I could say that. Lauren Bongiorno 3:56 Yeah, I think you can say that. And it's so interesting, because I think that if there's one thread of my entire life that I can really look at, it's this striving for perfection, and then getting too close to perfect and realizing, Oh, wait, this is not what I wanted. So definitely applies to diabetes, for sure. Stacey Simms 4:17 Well, let's back up and explain what we're talking about here. Let's start closer to the beginning. You were diagnosed at age seven. Do you remember any of that? Lauren Bongiorno 4:24 Yeah, I definitely remember it. I remember it was the day after Halloween. I remember my mom being on the phone with my dad in the kitchen and I had just had a tantrum and I think she was trying to figure out if it was a seven year old tantrum or if it was a something's wrong tantrum. And I had been losing a lot of weight and when you're seven years old, and I was really like skinny as a child and you lose, you know, 20 pounds, there's definitely some signs that something else may be going on and I was drinking so much water and I remember hearing my mom, you know, talk to my dad and have them deciding To take you to the doctor, so I went to my regular pediatricians office, and I was sitting there. And the distinct memory I have is of my mom and the doctor on the other side of the door and my mom hysterical crying. And if you know, my mom, she's like the strongest woman, she is a like, so independent, so strong. And I don't think that was the first time I ever heard her cry, or at least I remember her ever crying. So I was like, Oh, something is wrong. And then I ended up in the hospital, stay there for a few days. And when you're a kid, and you have everybody around you crying and saying, it's going to be okay, and you're so strong. And you also at the same time, don't really understand what that means. It sets you up for an interesting and interesting path and an interesting life. And definitely now looking back a lot of things that I think I didn't realize was going on in my mindset, and in my own personal development and relationship with diabetes. Stacey Simms 5:53 And so fast forward to a story that you tell on your website, which is when you were in college, and kind of realized that this was not sustainable. But I'm curious between seven and 19. Were you that model diabetes kid? Lauren Bongiorno 6:05 Yeah, that's actually the phase I don't talk about as much. And it's interesting, because I think it's the phase that most people and most of our clients that rise they relate to. And so that stage from seven to 18 really was, it was me just being in a very reactionary mode with my diabetes. So it was like, Oh, your blood sugar is high. Shoot, let's correct it and get it down. Oh, shoot, it's low. Alright, let's drink some juice really fast. So you can get back on the soccer field. And it was very kind of ping pong lead. And I never fully felt like I had the energy or the mood that I think that I could have in hindsight now, because I didn't realize like how much that Ping Pong was impacting me. And I also really didn't care. Like for me what was most important and for my parents, and what they instilled in me was a, you're gonna do anything you want in life, diabetes isn't going to stop you. And B, as long as when you go to the doctor, your a one C is in a good place, then you're good and you're in you're healthy. And my a one C was never crazy. It was always in the high sixes, low sevens. And that was before CGM. Right? I was diagnosed 21 years ago. And so there was no really concept of time and range being more important than a one C and and things like that. I think that during that time, it was a lot of because I didn't want diabetes to stop me. I took that as don't slow down to pay attention to your diabetes, it was very much do the bare minimal to keep your numbers not from being crazy, but just in a healthy range or healthy to your doctor standards or to your parents standards. And that time of ping pong up and down. When I eventually got to college, I realized that wait a second, I'm playing I was recruited to play division one soccer in college, it was the first time that I really started to connect my mind and my body and my numbers. And really realizing that I was not taught a lot about my whole body like this whole body approach of food and nutrition and glycemic index and eating for energy and eating for better blood sugars and exercise for specifically insulin sensitivity and what happens with weight training. And we're working out you know, two times a day when you're playing soccer in college. And those exercises are impacting my blood sugars in different ways than I had seen in the past. And I was trying to compete with a lot of other players for spots. And now my blood sugar's 300. And now I have a disadvantage. And I didn't like that because I was a very competitive person. And I took this as an opportunity to become more independent and tuned in to my diabetes and crafted in a way that would make me feel successful and would make me feel in control. And as an effect of that, what I did was I became obsessed, I became obsessed with my numbers obsessed with the food that I was putting in my body, obsessed with exercising, like over exercising all of this to the point where I actually lost my menstrual cycle for four years because my body fat percentage was so low, and it wasn't like I wasn't eating it wasn't like I was suffering from an eating disorder. In that sense. It was literally just a disorder of almost like perfection, in the name of wanting to control my diabetes in my numbers so badly. And when you start to see the results of that you're like, Okay, I'm doing this right. And that is a story I tell a lot and a lot of people know is I came home from college I think I was a sophomore junior in college. I had my endocrinologist checkup and you know, when you're a teenager your parents still come to the endocrinologist with you sometimes the doctor and so I remember sitting on the chair and my mom next to me and the doctor coming in who is my pediatrician kind of doctor from my dad. The doctor from a from childhood. And she was like her hands were in the air. And she was like Lauren, I have never seen a college student with a 5.7 a one. See, this is A1C you've ever had this is incredible. How did you do it? She like calls the nurse and the nurse comes in. She's like, can you talk to my other patient like in the UK, this other girl in the other room who's in who's in college and her agency is in great. And I was sitting there and it was like, literally an out of body experience. Because I'm watching like the doctor, high five, my mom and my five each other. And I was like, I'm not happy. I'm not happy. And you often think that your blood sugar's being perfect, or your agency being perfect. That is the sign of happiness, it's a sign of hell, that's a sign of perfection. I know you've made it. And I would never ever want to put my body through what it went through and go back to that place. And it was really because of my mindset. It was my mindset, it had nothing to do with a 5.7 a one C because my last day one C most recently was a 5.6. Totally different plays, I eat pizza, I have doughnuts, I have, you know, I want to have a fabulous relationship with exercise and with food. So it's all about the intention behind what you're doing. And that's what I realize most in that moment. Stacey Simms 11:21 I have so many questions, Lauren. How did you get them from I mean, you're still very young at 19. I'm thinking my daughter is 20. My son is almost 17 at 19. How did you get from I have this great agency. And I'm not happy to now. And I'm sure it was a journey I'm sure didn't happen overnight to I have a great agency. And I'm happy with I mean even pizza and I'm exercising the way I want to. Right back to Lauren, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. It's really hard to remember what things were like for us before we started using the Dexcom. I mean, I haven't forgotten at what I mean is it is so different. Now, when it was a toddler, we were doing something like 10 finger sticks a day. Even when he got older, we still did at least six to eight every day and you know more when he wasn't feeling well or when something was off. But with each iteration of Dexcom, we've done fewer and fewer sticks. The Dexcom G six eliminates finger sticks for calibration and diabetes treatment decisions. I think all the time about Betty's little worn out fingertips. And it makes me so glad that Dexcom has helped us come so far, his fingertips are now healthy and smooth, which I never thought would happen when he was in preschool. If your glucose alerts and readings from the G six do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions, learn more, go to diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Now back to Lauren. She's talking about how she found her way to being more kind to her body and to herself. Lauren Bongiorno 12:58 I would say that it was definitely a culmination of a few different things. The first thing was the real that moment really was a defining moment for me. But it also just opened up more ways of thinking about my life. And my just understanding of myself. I had started doing yoga around that time in college and Yoga does this incredible thing of giving you space to really watch your body and watch your patterns and watch your thoughts without judgment that's like at the root of the philosophy of yoga, or at least one of them. And what I realized was I wasn't happy with myself and with my identity, that diabetes was something that my whole life I kind of pushed away and it was always in the background, but I never fully accepted it. And if you don't accept the body that you're in, in my experience, you try to overcompensate in other areas. So you try to overcompensate in being perfect with food being perfect with exercise being perfect with your blood sugars. And ultimately, I had this like moment at the doctor's office where I just looked it's almost like a flashback in a movie where I looked back in my time so far in college and I'm like everybody is going out and having fun and I'm like saying no to going out to dinner with friends so I can make my organic broccoli and fish or whatever it was because I was didn't want to be tempted by having bread or pasta at this like restaurant they were going to or I would you know not want to stay out late or even like drinking college I didn't drink a lot like barely drank in college because I wanted to go to a 6am yoga class next day because I know that that really benefited my mind and my body in the way that I thought it needed to. And I just realized that I didn't want to live a life that a wasn't sustainable and be I wasn't happy. Like I think that it's important to understand your core values and I think my values were shifting away from perfection and approval of others or approval. Have my doctor my family and like more of being a little bit of a renegade and being like, well what do I want my life to look like? What do I want my relationship to food look like what I want my relationship to just everything that I do look like and what came out of that was this realization that what I was doing didn't match up and so what I was doing it wasn't sustainable if I wanted to lead a healthy and happy life and so I wanted to find a way of how could I have a healthy diabetes you know journey with my blood sugar's and not have complications later on in life and not have be in that phase in my life where I was from seven to 18, where I was just paying palming all over the place and not being aware of my blood sugar's not having predictability and those types of things. And how could I also not be on the other end of the spectrum where I was super restrictive, obsessive over health, there had to be a happy medium, there had to be a better way. And I had tried so many different diets at that point, high carb, low fat keto, high fat, low carb, like don't eat bread, don't eat process, this so many packaged food, but I realized that it was just exhausting. It was exhausting to try to apply it an outer rulebook to my life, and I wanted to start looking at my inner knowledge and creating that rulebook for myself. Stacey Simms 16:17 Let's talk a little bit about coaching. Can you explain a little bit about what coaching is because I'm, as a parent of a kid with type one we have only ever, like, seen the endocrinologist. And then I've relied on our educator, and, frankly, the diabetes online community. What's a coach, Lauren Bongiorno 16:34 of course, so a coach really is somebody who is helping you with accountability is helping support you in getting to the vision that you have for yourself, and is there to reflect back patterns and observations and help you with behavior change. So for example, a lot of parents of kids that we work with in our programs, they're coming because they realize, okay, we see our endocrinologist or a doctor a few times a year, and there's so much time in between that we want to be able to understand how to get our child's numbers better overnight, or in the morning time or when they're going to play sports. And we know that it's really about like the day to day things and not so much the let's go to the doctor and just depend on on them to tell us everything, we want to essentially take ownership over this and understand what's happening with their hormones with their insulin sensitivity with their, you know, time of the month, if they're females who are going through that phase that can be really challenging or just growth spurts in general, with nutrition and all this knowledge. So I really Riselywe focus on a behavior change, be published research, and then see our client data that we've had since 2015. And it's a lot of of work of a combination of mindset, and the blood sugars and the emotional impact that diabetes has on you. So you can think of it as a supplement to your endocrinologist, your CDE. And you're an a therapist or a mental health provider. If you have that. Stacey Simms 18:05 I get a little nervous when people who don't have a medical degree are helping but at the same time, I understand that. Like I said, I got most of our information from the community right when I started a Dexcom on my son at age nine. I didn't call the Endo. I mean, I literally put it on Twitter, and was like, I don't understand this. Can you help me? What am I looking for? So I'm kind of speaking out of both sides of my mouth, Lauren. But I guess the Frank question is, talk to me about helping people with type one as a coach, when you are not a diabetes educator when you know you do not have a medical degree? Lauren Bongiorno 18:39 Hmm, I absolutely love this question. All the coaches on our team are nationally board certified health coaches with that at the root health coaching is about helping you get unstuck by helping you develop the tools and the strategies to become aware of your blocks and your patterns so that you can move toward that vision that you have for yourself or for your child. A lot of times people know what they should be doing. Right? They know, when you slow down you take time what's happening with your blood... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22201889

In the News... FDA approves Tandem Mobile Bolus, Eversense 180 Day Sensor, and more! 02/18/2022

In the News... FDA approves Tandem Mobile Bolus, Eversense 180 Day Sensor, and more! It's "In the News..." Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week include two big FDA approvals! Tandem's Mobile Bolus and Eversense 180 day sensor both get the okay, we're looking at earlier detection of T1D in kids, there's a new discovery around a protein that might help T2D, info about Spare a Rose and Omnipod drops a hint about a crossover with a popular Nintendo game. Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! FB LIVE: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. If you’re new we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX Looking to get organized? Diabetes supplies can really add up and all that pump and CGM stuff or even shots and wipes and strips can clutter everything up. I’ve got a great new guide to help you out. It’ll get you started and keep you organized. That’s totally free and it’s over on the podcast homepage. XX Our top story this week – big movement from the US FDA, two approvals we’ve been waiting for. The first, Tandem Mobile bolus – what I’ve been calling bolus by phone. As expected, company says when released, this will be no additional cost for in-warranty customers through a remote software update. Limited launch in the spring, followed by expanded launch this summer. It’s compatible with both iOS and Android, although limited to just a couple of models right now. This is a very important step not just for customer convenicen but as Tandem moves forward with it’s new hardware line including Mobi will need an external device for full control. https://www.tandemdiabetes.com/landing-pages/remote-bolus XX The second FDA approval came through for The Eversense E3 continuous glucose monitor. This 180-day implantable sensor will be available later in 2022. If you’re not familiar, you have the sensor, inserted under the skin of the upper arm (and removed) every six months by a trained healthcare provider. There is a rechargeable transmitter which vibrates on the body for highs and lows.. and a mobile app. The sensor requires two calibrations per day for the first 21 days of wear. After that it requires one calibration. Lots of questions here and I’m talking to these folks for an upcoming episode.. look for that in about two weeks. https://diatribe.org/180-day-implantable-cgm-eversense-e3-approved-fda XX Saw an interesting post from Omnipod this week on IG.. All about Pat Podder® - the caption says she “is a long-time member of the Pod Squad who loves a good DIY project, going swimming, and to explore new places.” Take a look at this animation, along with the hashtag they used.. Animal Crossing.. are we about to see a gaming crossover? Insulet says an announcement is coming Thursday of this week, so if you’re listening to the podcast it may have already happened.. I’ll follow up. https://www.instagram.com/p/CaA_5rEsyMH/ XX Big push in Germany to get doctors to screen very young kids for type 1. This group conducted the world’s largest population based screening for type 1 diabetes in children so far. Since 2015, any child aged 2–5 years in Bavaria, Germany, could have their blood tested for islet autoantibodies. These show early stage type 1 diabetes years before high blood sugars and other symptoms. More than 90-thousand kids have been tested and point 31 percent (.31%) have been diagnosed. Next up is to take a deep dive into the potential cost savings and increased quality of life compared to what happens without these early screenings. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-02-early-diabetes-children.html XX It’s a mouse study.. but good potential here for a drug to treat type 2 diabetes. It works by amplifying a protein that has a positive effect on insulin. The protein is called Swell-1 and it’s vital for normal insulin secretion from pancreatic cells. And, SWELL-1 activity seems to be significantly disrupted in people with type 2. Fixing that seems to restore both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion. And it does this without lowering blood glucose when that’s not needed. Long way to go but promising.. https://newatlas.com/medical/new-drug-target-diabetes-metabolic-disease-swell1/ XX The Spare a Rose campaign was back – focusing on Valentine's Day but continuing through February. The idea here is that instead of buying a dozen roses.. you buy 11 and donate the value of that last flower to help someone with diabetes. Since starting in 2013 Spare a Rose has raised almost 400-thousand dollars.. most of that has gone to Life for A Child. Now, these donations are going to the Insulin For Life Global organization. It provides insulin, supplies, education, and advocacy to children and adults. With that the name has changed from Spare a Rose, save a child to Spare a Rose save a life. https://sparearose.org/ XX More type 1 at the Olympics! Last week we told you about Snow Boarder Kamilla Kozuback who was diagnosed at age 13. Czech skeleton athlete Anna Fernstädtová came in 7th a couple of days ago. A MONTH ago she was in the hospital, newly diagnosed with diabetes. She wrote on Instagram: “7th place at the Olympic Games. Not the runs I wanted, not the result I wanted. But these are happy tears. Not even a month ago I was in hospital, without knowing what would happen. But we made it happen. Thank you everyone who got me here And to everyone who is also dealing with type 1 diabetes: everything is possible! You got this!!” https://www.facebook.com/annafernstaedt -- Our long format episode this week is with the folks at Sigi pump.. a new tubeless rechargeable pump that got breakthrough device designation last fall. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22172762

In the Pipeline: Sigi Pump System 02/15/2022

In the Pipeline: Sigi Pump System Last fall, Sigi pump received Breakthrough Device Designation from the US FDA. Although it's still a long way from being released, Sigi is very intriguing; it uses some of the best parts of existing pump systems. Pim Von Wesel is Co-CEO of AMF Medical, the company that makes the We’ll talk about what makes this system unique, which partners they're eying for collaboration and the timeline for submitting to the FDA really looks like. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom and by Club 1921, where Diabetes Connections are made. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, it's called Sigi pump. And last fall it received breakthrough device designation from the US FDA, there's still a long way to go before this tubeless rechargeable pump could be on the market. And company leaders say that's okay by them. Pim van Wesel 0:37 We're biding our time to make it short is excellent in every respect, technically, from a usability point of view, of course, which has a huge focus to us lowering therapy burden, and also just being able to produce it in sufficient quantities. Stacey Simms 0:51 Pim van Wesel is Co-CEO of AMF Medical, the company that makes the Sigi pump, we'll talk about what makes this system unique, which partners they're eyeing for collaboration, and what the timeline for submitting to the FDA really looks like, This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show, 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. Before we jump in, I want to give a big shout out to the amazing people in our Facebook group. If you're not there, it's Diabetes Connections, the group and I just want to single them out, because I think that it is the smartest diabetes Facebook group that's out there. I know I'm a little biased. But you know, it's not the kind of group that's going to tell you how to eat or how to dose or you must do this, or how dare you do that. As you know, if you listen to the show, that's not our deal at all. And I just want to take a moment because I've been asking the folks in there many of whom have lived with diabetes for 50, 60 years, many of whom work for technology companies, many of whom have been blogging about diabetes for many, many years. And I've been bringing them questions that have come up in my local group, things like cannula length, making a difference, some questions I had about summer camps for this year. And they all also have fabulous conversations. So I know we're all if you're on Facebook, you're in a ton of groups already. I do think that it's a really good one. If you'd like to hear from people who have lived with this condition for a long time who are very knowledgeable and frankly, very opinionated, which I like a lot. I do run a very tight ship. I do this in my local group as well as this one, you're not going to get away with any nonsense. Any weird stuff, a snake oil. Yeah, we will have none of them. But it's a great group. And I just was given them a shout out because they've been very, very helpful, especially lately. Okay. Sigi pump caught my attention when it received that breakthrough designation that I mentioned. And to be clear, that means the FDA will try to speed it through the process. It does not mean it's approved for that it's guaranteed approval. And Sigi by the way is S-i-g-i. I did share some photos of it in the Facebook group. And my guest is Pim van Wesel , the CO CEO of AMF medical, that is the Swiss company behind Sigi pump. They are very early on here. Clinical trials have not yet started, but they do plan that when they get through the process to launch in the US first while it looks a bit like an omnipod, but the pod part is reusable. You recharge it as needed, and they give you two so you don't have to stop pumping while you're recharging. One of them. The only disposable part is the infusion set, although they call it something else, the part that connects to the body. Lots more information about Sigi in my interview with Pim van Wesel Pim thanks for joining me. I am excited to find out more about this product in this company. Thanks for coming on the show. Pim van Wesel 3:54 Thanks for having me. Stacey. Very excited to share what we have. Stacey Simms 3:57 Yeah, I have so many questions for you. But let me just start by asking, just tell you a little bit about the company that makes Sigi what is A M F medical? What do you all do? Pim van Wesel 4:08 Well, AMF medical was really spun out as a standalone company in 2021. But the history of the company goes back to 2014 when the founders hit upon a technology which they initially started using in some high end components for laboratory equipment. But a number of the founders had a history from a previous startup in insulin delivery. It didn't work so well then. But when they analyze this particular technology, they said, Wait a minute, we can probably make a insulin pump with this technology that would work that would not destroy insulin and being a large, fragile hormone. And they started a project in 2015. Over time, the project got big enough that they decided what we decided I joined since then to make it a separate company just because the investment story is very big. Different for insulin technology versus, you know, high end led components. So, company started in 2014, on off separately in 2021. Around the time we kind of came out of stealth. And, you know, I joined a little over a year ago, basically to help build a business after the founders started with a technology hired a great r&d leader pair who turn it into a product and then meet to help make it a business. Stacey Simms 5:27 Or you mentioned coming out of stealth mode. The first time I heard about this was when the US FDA gave what they call breakthrough device designation. What does that mean? And why is that important? Pim van Wesel 5:40 Well, it's important to us because we feel we have a few capabilities, particularly around usability and lowering the therapy burden that we wanted to test with the FDA, if it deserves to some recognition. Practically, it means that that puts us a little bit earlier and faster into the approval process. But we have an ongoing conversation with the FDA that started with a pre submission conversation there. And we decided to that we would try for this designation to get some recognition for some of the capabilities that we have, they picked up on a number of them, which got everybody very excited. You know, in a way, it's, you know, recognition that we're addressing unmet patient's needs. Stacey Simms 6:18 Okay, so I got a little bit ahead of myself there by starting by asking about the FDA, let's just back up and talk about what the product is. Tell me about the Sigi pump. What makes this different, Pim van Wesel 6:28 it is a patch pump, we have designed it for interoperability with multiple systems, so multiple third party glucose monitors and multiple algorithms. And I think one of the novelties that we'd like to bring is just tremendous ease of use. So we use standard prefilled insulin cartridges, I think that's in a nutshell, the product, it is a semi reusable product, the pump itself is reusable, you would have to as a user, with a dedicated charger, and whenever you need to switch it out. Because your cartridge is empty, you take your second pump, pump, pump into cartridge, use a new sterile cap to close it and then put it back onto your pad. The pad is a or tray, but we call it a pad is basically placed on your skin. And you can clip your palm on and off as needed. Stacey Simms 7:17 I'm going to describe this probably pretty poorly. But in my mind's eye using existing technology, this seems to me like you use sort of a pump infusion set. So you would insert the tray the base as you called it onto the skin. And then that's temporary, right, you would take that off every couple of days like you do right now. But the patch pump is more like a more durable pump like a Medtronic or a Tandem, but you physically clip it flat, it connects to that infusion, well, I'm calling an infusion set. And is that close to accurate? Pim van Wesel 7:52 That is I think that is a very good description with the one caveat that we have the ambition for the pads to last a little bit longer than a couple of days. Which basically means that once the pad is on the skin, let's just say for a moment that it lasts a week, as you run out of insulin you your take your pump off, you put in a new cartridge, and you clip your pump back on as long as the pad lasts, or what you could imagine somebody who has a very high use in need of insulin, they might for instance less in people that are in type two, not that that's our primary focus. But if they were to go through 160 units in less than two days, they wouldn't have to change the insertion of the pad or to disposable if you will. So that's the idea. Absolutely. Stacey Simms 8:38 Got it. We're going to talk about more features, and you know a lot more about what the system is about. But before we go any further is what we're talking about in existence yet. In other words, is somebody wearing this? Is this in clinical trials? Where are you in the process? Pim van Wesel 8:53 So we have functioning prototypes? We have not, and we've tested the usability of those we published something at ATDD last year. And we'll we'll have some more information at ATDD coming up in March sort of product exists. But formally speaking, we have not done the first human yet and as planned for later this year towards the end of 2022. Stacey Simms 9:16 Got it? Well, the next question I know my listeners are going to have is can they take part in that are those are those first people in Europe or in the United States? Pim van Wesel 9:24 There? I'll be very honest W in Europe. And that is primarily just to you know, we're startups. So we're trying to keep it manageable and coordination effort. So to do this in the US is probably a little bit beyond what we can can do at the moment. But clearly, I mean, just to answer the following question. Our intent is to first go in marketing United States and that's why we have these conversations with the FDA. Stacey Simms 9:48 Got it. Got it. Well, we have lots of listeners in Europe too. So we'll put all the information out is as you're able to send to us. Alright, so let's talk a little bit more about the product itself, or the system itself, I should say the public Um, you mentioned you know, refilling insulin, this is prefilled pump cartridges as designed, right? This is not, you don't have to draw it out and fill it correct. Pim van Wesel 10:09 There's no, if the term here fiddling to fill it, you basically take it out of the, you know, insulin caps in the refrigerator, and you pop it in straightaway you you don't have to wait 20 minutes for it to warm up, the system is compensating for that. So there's no air bubbles. And these cartridges, they already exist, they're already on the market. They're just being used today, with, you know, the Tethered pumps, or, you know, the pumps you were in a belt or in a pocket. So, you you mentioned the Medtronic pumps. Actually, there's other products out there that use this exact same existing cartridge. And I think you've spoken about some of these pumps in other podcasts. Stacey Simms 10:46 Yeah, it's interesting. You know, we're so US centric sometimes that I certainly tend to forget, I believe what, Ypsomed uses the cartridges? Pim van Wesel 10:54 Yes, Ypsomed uses that cartridge here in Europe And they have their agreement with Lily in United States. And there's a Roche product as well that uses this. But to our knowledge, this is the only patch pump that's designed around this cartridge. And it's actually a big part of why the pump has the size that it has, we couldn't make it much smaller and, and still fit the cartridge in Stacey Simms 11:16 tiny a little bit more about the pump design itself. As I'm reading through, it looks like it is controlled from a phone or controlled by a separate controller. Are there any buttons on the pump itself, Pim van Wesel 11:27 there are no buttons on the pump itself. And it is operated via your own smartphone. That's definitely the ID that we're working towards. We don't think people need another personal device manager in their pocket. So keep it simple. Stacey Simms 11:40 And now I've talked about system a few times. Let's talk about that. So Bluetooth unable to go to a smartphone to go to an AI Controller talk about that a little bit. Pim van Wesel 11:49 It is in no technical parlance. It's it's designed in the discussions with FDA RS ultimate controller enabled pumps. So nice pump, and it has everything that you could, you know design to so we're not trying to backwards integrate an algorithm and interoperability with third party CGM is designed to be able to do that. And when we say designed to be able to do that it has the communication capabilities with Bluetooth, it has the processing power to have an algorithm on board, and it has the battery life to deal with it as well. It's a rechargeable battery, of course, all of that is designed to be able to communicate and to calculate in, you know, work with dosing algorithms, if you will, that would be onboard. There's some systems that have the dosing algorithm on a personal device manager or in the future on the phone. We can accommodate that as well. We think that there's some advantages to having the algorithm actually embedded on the pump. And we've designed it to be able to do that. Stacey Simms 12:46 I may have missed this point. You're not creating an algorithm for the pump? Pim van Wesel 12:52 No, I think when we initially I think the ambitions were for the company were quite large. But if we really look at the core competencies, the core capabilities that his team has is around fluidics management and is around miniaturization. So over time, we also realized that, you know, we should better stick to what we do well, and is just make an excellent pump a truly excellent pump. Otherwise, we don't think we have any right to be on the market. And we have this open ID, you know, collaborating with, as far as we're concerned with any algorithm that's approved with any CGM, that is that is available. So we really have an open protocol or an open system mindset there. I think that's a little bit. You know, if we read the documentation, what the what the FDA is doing with the creation of these new product categories, such as ace pump, an IC, GM and I control, or we read a little bit with the JDRF has as a position statement around your artificial pancreas. We're fully subscribed to that philosophy, because we're open. Yeah, Stacey Simms 13:59 it's really interesting, because ideally, and we've been talking with this for a couple of years now ideally, right, you'd get your pump, you get your CGM, you'd be able to pick and choose and then say, Okay, I want this algorithm I you know, I want my, I mean, I'll put the blue sky thing I want to Sigi I want my libre, and I want to use the control IQ. Correct? Is that something you think is a real possibility here? Right back to Pim in just a moment, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. And we've been using the Dexcom system since Benny was nine years old. We started with them back in December of 2013. The system just keeps getting better. The Dexcom G6 is FDA permitted for no finger sticks for calibration and diabetes treatment decisions you can share with up to 10 people from your smart device. The G6 has 10 Day sensor wear and the applicator is so easy. I have not done one insertion since we got it. Benny does them all himself. He's a busy kid, and no way he can just take a quick glance at his blood glucose numbers to make better treatment decisions. is reassuring. Of course, we still love the alerts and alarms and that we can set them how we want it for glucose alerts and readings and the G six do not match symptoms or expectations use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. To learn more, go to diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo. Now back to Pim talking about interoperability and whether the system will work with other algorithms and devices. Pim van Wesel 15:27 Well, we're definitely building our product for that to work, and depends a lot, of course, on the collaboration that that you can put in place with some of his companies. And being a startup, you know, a number of these collaborations are actually, you know, very enthusiastic, and other ones are a little bit more and wait and see, because we're still startup at this point in time. And I understand some of the bigger CGM companies, they might say like, well, let's wait and see if these guys actually gonna make it to market before we spend an awful lot of time co developing with them. But a number of areas septic, and we have good conversation. So will it work with all depends? You know, I don't think it's so much a technical question as a question of, you know, is there the will to make it happen. But we're very encouraged by some of the collaborations that that have been put in place, still early days, but we plan to do our first human and fairly soon thereafter have a what we call a hybrid loop trial with with a select number of patients. Stacey Simms 16:26 Not to belabor the point here, it would be too early to ask you which CGM you would work with because you're, you're still Pim van Wesel 16:33 Well, let me turned the question around. Which CGM? Would you first like to see on our pump? Stacey Simms 16:39 I would. But I first like to say, good question here in the US, right, we only have a Dexcom and Libre, and Medtronic, I'd left them out of that, because they're so proprietary, you know, they only work within their system. So you know, if you ask me, I'm going to say Dexcom? Because that's what we use. But I would also say, I mean, I'll speak out of both sides of my mouth, everybody. Unknown Speaker 17:03 So Stacey Simms 17:07 in the works, probably two of which will come to market? Pim van Wesel 17:09 Well, yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned that, Stacy, because the other day, with, you know, we basically had an inventory of the number of CGM projects out there. And I think it was getting to about close to 40. If you kind of all add them up, and we don't have 40 agreements in place, we have some agreements in place, and when I can talk about it, because there's confidentiality there, but you probably won't be disappointed with some of the names that we're talking about. But to your earlier point, you know, there's different form factors, right. Some people are very comfortable with having, you know, every six months or every 12 months, a minor intervention, not to have, you know, not as a wearable other people are actually, you know, preferring a wearable. And I think we want to accommodate that, as you said, different form factors, different dosing algorithms. So that that's our philosophy. And we're sticking to that for an hour and see how much of that we can make happen. But clearly, when we make our selection the same way these big companies do it, right. They say, I'm not going to work with this startup, well, how much do I believe they actually going to exist five years from now? Those same considerations apply to us as well? Yes, we have... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22130681

In the News.. New way to treat hypos, Does cannabis help prevent T2D? Diabetes at the Olympics and more! 02/11/2022

In the News.. New way to treat hypos, Does cannabis help prevent T2D? Diabetes at the Olympics and more! Every week “In the News…” brings you the top stories and headlines around the diabetes community. Top stories this week: A new treatment is being studied to help prevent hypos, cannabis use may decrease women's risk of type 2, examining Veterans Affairs claims for T1D & Agent Orange, better prevention for T2D and heart disease and which athlete at the Winter Olympics was diagnosed with type 1 as a teen? -- Join us LIVE on Facebook & YouTube every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. If you’re new we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX Looking to get organized? Check out my new guide with top tips to clear your diabetes clutter. Everything from how to start to where to donate and how to keep it from taking over your house. Head over to the home page to get organized. XX Our top story.. moving forward to find a daily therapy to slow or prevent low blood glucose in people with type 1. This is from diabetes-focused life sciences company Zucara Therapeutics. They’re calling the drug ZT-01 and in theory it could restore the body's ability to release glucagon. Long way to go here, but reducing hypoglycemia is obviously a great outcome due to the many risks lows can create. Zucara will now move ahead with it’s proof-of-concept clinical trial in people with T1D. The company expects to publish the findings from that study closer to this summer. https://www.biospace.com/article/zucara-reveals-hopeful-preclinical-data-in-type-1-diabetes-/ XX Part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act means a close look at type 1 in the VA. It mandates a report on disability compensation claims submitted by Vietnam War veterans who have Type 1 and were exposed to an herbicide agent during their service. The VA recognizes that Vietnam veterans' Type 2 diabetes can be related to Agent Orange. But it requires veterans with type 1 to provide evidence. There are some challenges here: The VA's claims decision data only goes back to 2003 and they track Type 1 and Type 2 with the same diagnostic code, they don’t distinguish between the two conditions. In 2020, diabetes represented roughly 6.5 percent of all service-related conditions for which Vietnam War era veterans received compensation. gao.gov/products/gao-22-105143 XX New study of gestational diabetes shows it recurs for nearly half of women who’ve had it before. These doctors say little is known about the risk factors for recurrent gestational diabetes. Part of the problem is that they just changed criteria for diagnosing it. In this study about 8-percent of women had a history of gestational diabetes. Of those, almost 50-percent had it recur and just over 7-percent developed type 1 or type 2 between those pregnancies. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220208/risk-factors-differ-for-first-time-recurrent-gestational-diabetes XX What’s the link between weed and a lower risk of type 2? First.. this study only showed such a link in women NOT in men and only in heavy users. In this study that means using cannabis at least four time in the previous month. No differences in the prevalence of type 2 in men who were light or heavy cannabis users versus nonusers. These findings come from a large 5 year study that ended in 2018 and in which people self-reported their use. These researchers say the gender difference was also seen in animal models. Expect more study on this one. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/968186 XX More good outcomes with SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists. These drugs are a mouthful but new research links them with lower chances of potentially fatal heart problems in people with type 2 without established heart disease. They compared these newer meds to the risks in people using more traditional therapies, such as metformin. The researchers showed the odds of developing heart failure was 51 percent lower for people using SGLT2 inhibitors, 18 percent lower for GLP-1 users and 57 percent lower for people using both drugs. The newer drugs are prescribed less and these researchers say we need to look at why when the newer ones show better outcomes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-02-diabetes-drugs-thousands.html XX Some tough numbers about depression and diabetes. In the US.. about 30-percent of people with either type 1 or type 2 have depressive symptoms and 11-percent show signs of major depressive disorder. This lines up with studies from other countries as well, so it’s not just about healthcare. There’s some info in this study about how insulin resistance may go hand in hand with depression.. Women with diabetes seem to be at a heightened risk. Emerging research suggests treatment of depression with antidepressants may decrease the risk of developing diabetes-related complications, although other research suggests there may be complications related to their use. These conflicting findings highlight the need for further research. https://www.endocrinologyadvisor.com/home/topics/diabetes/diabetes-and-depression-and-distress-and-psychological-and-clinical-and-social-causes-insulin-and-glycemia-and-antidepressants/ XX Our friends at DiabetesMine have a good write up about the very attractive and ever elusive state of non-invasive blood glucose monitoring.. One that caught my eye was Scanbo. This technology uses a 60-second noninvasive finger measurement instead of a traditional blood drop required to measure glucose. The company has developed a prototype. You just put your fingers on the flat white sensors and the system uses a set of algorithms to analyze and offer insight on glucose values. Like most of these we’ve reported on.. they present at consumer shows, not medical conferences and no clinical trials. And.. this is my editorial.. what a weird photo. It looks like you have to put both hands on the machine and with the chipped purple nail polish this looks like no thought was put into it. https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/non-invasive-diabetes-technology XX At least one athlete in these Winter Olympics lives with type 1… Kamilla Kozuback was diagnosed at age 13.. and her first question was whether she’d ever be able to snowboard again. That was only four years ago! At the time she told JDRF Canada – quote, “I want to be in the next Olympics. I’m going to keep working hard, and training all I can” She’s competing in Beijing this week. https://www.instagram.com/kamillakozuback/?hl=en https://www.jdrf.ca/finding-strength-in-adversity-newly-diagnosed-teen-competes-in-2020-youth-olympics/ XX The documentary “Pay or Die” gets some Hollywood star power behind hit. Susan Silverman signs on as an executive producer. We had directors Scott Ruderman and Rachel Dyer on the show last year to talk about what they describe as a look at the health care crisis in America, told through the personal stories of those with Type 1 diabetes who, because of soaring insulin costs, are living on the edge of survival. Silverman says, “I believe Rachael and Scott might just shame our shameless government enough to move the needle,” “I’m grateful for the chance to help get eyes on this crucial documentary.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sarah-silverman-diabetes-insulin-documentary-1235084792/ XX Our long format episode this week is Molly Schreiber who lives with type 1 and rheumatoid arthritis. Medication for the latter made the decision to get a COVID vaccine complicated and she shares her story. Next week we’re talking with the people at SIGI pump.. a new tubeless rechargeable pump that got breakthrough device designation last fall. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22092911

"It was incredibly frustrating" When Another Autoimmune Condition Complicates Life with T1D 02/08/2022

"It was incredibly frustrating" When Another Autoimmune Condition Complicates Life with T1D People with diabetes were encouraged to get a COVID vaccine early on when the shots were released. But what happens when you live with type 1 and another condition where the vaccine recommendation is more complicated? Molly Schreiber lives with T1D and rheumatoid arthritis. Her doctors told her to absolutely NOT get a COVID vaccine due to treatment she was taking for the second condition. She was able to eventually get vaccinated then, despite taking precautions, she and her entire family got the Omicron variant. They’re fine now and Molly has a lot of good info to share. She also has several family members with type 1 and has a lot to say about how we care for older people with T1D. Molly works at the This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom and by Club 1921, where Diabetes Connections are made. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, people with diabetes were encouraged to get a COVID vaccine early on, when they were released. But what happens when you live with type one and another condition where the vaccine recommendation is… complicated? Molly Schreiber 0:35 And I messaged my rheumatologist and I said great news. My hospital has the vaccine in I can get an appointment. You know, I was super excited. And she called my cell phone immediately and says You could not get that vaccine and it was a gut punch. What do you mean, I can't get this vaccine, Stacey Simms 0:52 Molly Schreiber lives with type one and rheumatoid arthritis, she was able to eventually get vaccinated, then despite taking precautions, she and her entire family off the omicron variant, they're fine. And she has a lot of good information to share. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show, 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 one of those people had a really bad low last night, as most of you know. And if you are new, I will explain my son, Benny was diagnosed with type one right before he turned two, he is now 17. We use the control IQ system with Tandem and Dexcom. And I gotta tell you, it has been a while since that urgent low has gone off on my Dexcom app. And I really don't remember the last time he had an urgent low that he didn't treat pretty quickly. You know, he very rarely asks for my help. We are at the point now where I have turned off all of the Dexcom alerts except that urgent low. But in the middle of the night, it was like one o'clock in the morning it went off. And I don't know, you know, usually I would have waited and just said maybe he's got it. He always had stuff in his room. But it was It wasn't in 55 It was 42. So I said, you know, I'm gonna just go check on him. And they brought up a juice box like I have done a bajillion times, you know, when he was little, it's so funny. I gotta say, you know, the juice box used to seem like a big deal, a big amount, I should say. But it looks so tiny. He’s now like six feet tall, but I brought it upstairs. And it was immediately clear that this was a real low. This wasn't a compression low. He wasn't leaning on the Dexcom. He was disoriented, he was sweaty, he was super hungry. So he drank the juice box, I got him some crackers. And then I sat with him for a little bit. And he started to kind of come back to himself. But he was so hungry. And you know what this is like, I don't know about you. But he was sometimes I really try if I'm with him, which isn't the case all the time anymore. I tried to say you know, you've had you've had your 15 or 20 carbs or you know, when he was little you had your four to eight carbs. And let's just sit because you know, you're going to be okay. Now, you know, you're not going to be hungry in 15 to 20 minutes. But man, that urge to eat. I mean, I know his brain is screaming at him. So I was like, you know, forget this. I went downstairs and I got him some more food. I figured I can always give him more insulin for it and who knows. He just really still felt bad. So we overtreated which, again, we haven't done it a long time totally overtreated. And, you know, he finally felt better and was able to go back to bed. But you know, my adrenaline is like, through the roof. I finally did get back to bed. But I'm sure that he felt much worse than I did. I oh my gosh, it's been a long, long time. I'm sure many of you were asking, Well, what happened? The truth is I don't know what happened. I didn't ask him in the moment. I mean, he's 42 he's not gonna have a coherent answer. I don't really care. I just wanted to treat the low and then go back to sleep. I’ll ask him tonight at dinner but I gotta tell you at this point, 15 years in the answer he has diabetes is good enough for me. My guess is he ate something and gave too much insulin. Or I know we put a new site on. Maybe that was like a super absorbent site. You know, sometimes that happens, you just hit that sweet spot. And it's just the insulin flows somehow a lot better in that place. If it was really interesting or unusual, I will report back but I only bring it up because it has been a long time. Since I've had to treat a low like that in the middle of the night. It made me remember all those times, you know, not just before control IQ but before Dexcom when that would have been you know a finger stick every five minutes while we were waiting for him to come up and you know, very different times. I hope we all get a better night's sleep tonight. And like I said, if it's anything really interesting or if there's a follow up here, I will let you know. Alright, this week's guest is somebody I've known for a long time through the diabetes online community. She certainly remembers a different type of technology. We did get to meet in person at a healthy voices conference in Chicago nearly six years ago. We talked about that at the very end of the interview. That was so cool. Hold that conference was freezing. But man, I would love to go back to more in person stuff even if it's freezing. Molly Schreiber was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child in 1989. Her father, grandfather and a cousin all lived with type one as well. In 2018, she was also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I follow Molly on social media, she's been very open about her struggle, not just with these conditions, but with how difficult COVID has been for her. You know, with autoimmune stuff, you want to be more careful. But her art a diagnosis rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis made getting the vaccine a tough decision. And then when her entire family did catch COVID During this omicron search, it made that more difficult to Molly has been a longtime blogger in the diabetes community. And I'll link up some of what she has written. She is currently the community director for savvy cooperative, and she explains more about that as we talk. I do want to say, you know, Molly really is an incredibly positive person, but she's not a Pollyanna. She keeps it real. And it was great to catch up. Molly, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on. Molly Schreiber 6:08 Thanks for having me. Stacey Simms 6:09 All right. Before we jump in, or talk about anything, I have to ask, how are you? How are you feeling as your family Molly Schreiber 6:14 were okay, we all, you know, had the pleasure of having COVID Funnily enough, we pulled my daughter from college because it was getting pretty intense down there and gave her COVID When she got home, so really failed there. But no, we're all doing a lot better. It's been almost three weeks now. So Stacey Simms 6:31 yeah, I'm glad. And um, you know, there's an awful lot to talk about leading up to that diagnosis, but I'm glad everybody's doing okay. Scary stuff. Yeah, this is usually where I asked people to tell us their diagnosis story. And I'd like to start there with one additional question if I could, because you don't live with just and I put that in quotes with just diabetes. Right? Molly Schreiber 6:50 Right. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes, when I was a kid, when I was back in 1989, I'll date myself, and I knew a lot about the disease. So my father had type one or had type one and his father and then my paternal cousin. So type 1 diabetes was very much in my life, you know, needles were around testing. At that point, testing blood was not as common as urine. But um, you know, it wasn't a shock, I should say, a lifestyle change. We were already kind of living that. But fast forward to about 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which, yeah, the just living with both is definitely a challenge. They don't, you know, unfortunately, autoimmune diseases can come, you know, in pairs or in groups, you tend to be a collector, but they don't necessarily get treated, or even you have similar symptoms to each other diabetes and RA, Stacey Simms 7:51 would you mind and Pardon my ignorance? Would you mind talking about RA for a moment what that is? Molly Schreiber 7:56 Yeah, so the easy way to sort of translate it to the diabetes community is instead of attacking I slit cells, my immune system is attacking my joints, and specifically the synovial membrane, which is sort of that lubricating fluid that's in your joints is not immune disease, as well. So comes from the same family. As you know, and most of your listeners, we don't really know why yet, it happened to me very, I would say suddenly, and I had sort of just an elbow pain thought I grabbed a bag, wrong, you know, off of an airplane on on a weekend trip and just thought, I've asked to push that bag too hard or done something and within a month, I couldn't straighten that elbow. So my arm was bad. And I got to have the fun experience of doctors telling me I was favoring it or had tennis elbow or all sorts of fun things. But within a few weeks, I couldn't walk downstairs and I was sitting because my feet and my knees and just did not then did not work. And I quickly went to the doctor and just said something's really wrong. And unlike type one where you get a blood test, and you know, if your blood sugar is a certain number, there's a pretty good chance you know that you're going to be diagnosed with diabetes with RA, there is a blood test. Lucky for me, I tested positive but plenty of your listeners if they have RA they not not everyone test positive. So you could go down a very long treatment of trying to figure out what's wrong. What is the treatment? Is there treatment? There is there's a couple different treatments, so definitely medication. So you would start with what are called disease modifiers and the most common one that people might know of is called methotrexate, it can be used all these drugs can be used for cancer, but these are used in the RA and similar disease spaces in much smaller doses. So yes, you may if you look them up, see them referred to as chemo that they are just given in lesser doses. So we have those drugs. Most of the time. They don't do enough and you need something that's called a biologic and There are quite a few options. To be honest, this was the hardest part for me. All right, is that I went from living with type one, you know, basically my whole life and there's one treatment, right? There's insulin, everybody takes it. You know, we might have the rare person. I'm sure everyone's heard of someone that was maybe allergic but you take it it works. Does it work perfectly? No real? No, that doesn't always work the same. But everybody takes it. But with a biologic. And with other treatments with these arthritis, autoimmune conditions, it's a gamble. You know, what commercial? Did you see that maybe you want to try that one is a literal question from your doctor. Wow, it is a true gamble of what's going to work. They don't know yet. Why some jobs work and some don't for people and what works for me, if you were to be diagnosed with RA, it might not work for you. It's just a complete gamble. And they don't last forever. So some people have had success for a long time. Others have tried multiple drugs because they lose efficacy. We'd like to say that the drug failed the patient. Patients like us are tend to sort of internalize it and say, Oh, I failed that one. But no, we're gonna say that the drug failed that Stacey Simms 11:11 I'm pausing here, I'm just gonna kind of stuttering because I'm trying to figure out how to ask this. What I'm trying to say is, with type 1 diabetes, and RA, you're mentioning insulin, you're talking about biologics and other medication, any dangerous interactions, anything that you specifically have had to look out for. Molly Schreiber 11:24 Yeah, so a couple different things. So one of the initial treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, and it can be a treatment that a lot of patients stay on are steroids. And so plenty, you know, if you have diabetes, and you've ever, you know, had even a horrible bronchitis or pneumonia, or maybe you've had to get a steroid injection, you know, that horrible boost, your blood sugar is going to take them after you have started either that steroid pack or you've had that injection, well, a lot of patients are on a long term dose of steroids. For me, that's simply not an option. And I say that for myself, because, to me, the the struggle of managing my blood sugar as well on them. And also just the feeling of being on them is not worth the side effect of the you know, I'm not getting enough bang for my buck, you know, with with a steroid, so it's not worth the added stress. That's not to say you can't manage steroids, you know, our pumps and our different basal rates and everything, do great things. And I even have a steroid profile in my pump. If for when things get bad, yes, I will go on them. I'm not going to be too prideful. But steroids are first line of defense, they make you feel better quick, they get you back to life, you know, and for me, there's that added habit of blood sugars. But then there's also that little piece of how we're susceptible to getting sick, you know, where our cold takes a little longer for us to recover from, you know, and when you're on these additional medications, you want to keep your blood sugar in check, because when it's not, you're feeling worse, and you're more susceptible to those complications. So there's just that added caveat, you know that you want to stay as healthy as possible, but you're on these drugs that are really, they're calming down your immune system, so it stops attacking you. But in that same breath, they're also not preventing you from getting sick. Stacey Simms 13:17 I'm going to come back to your family's experience with type one as you listen, I don't want you to think that I'm going to skim over that we're definitely going to revisit that. But keeping our conversation about ra here with COVID. You are one of the first people I remember seeing on social media in my circle, certainly that was talking about issues with either being able to take the vaccine or wondering about being able to take a COVID vaccine. Is that because of the biologic or the medications or is because of the RA condition itself? Molly Schreiber 13:48 Yeah, so it's a little bit more on the medication side, but a lot of patients again, are on a ton of different biologics. And so at the time when vaccines first came out late in December of 2020, as their confer hospital then and with that came with being eligible to get a vaccine early, which is great. Sounds wonderful, right? I was super excited that I was in a drug club or Texan or Texans are really strong line of defense. With Ra. It's used a lot with non Hodgkins lymphoma as well. It's pretty in terms of the drugs you could be on. It's a pretty heavy hitter, but when I went on it three years ago, I needed it. My disease was in a space that needed it and it worked. I just had an infusion. So vertex in isn't infused by logic. Some people get it once a year, the earliest you can get it is every four months to talk to infusions every four months and repeat. So I was on that schedule, and I'd had an infusion in October, and I messaged my rheumatologist and I said great news. My Hospital has the vaccine in I can get an appointment. Yeah, super excited. And she called my cell phone immediately and says You could not get that vaccine and it It was like a gut punch. What do you mean, I can't get this vaccine. And she said, look, the ACR, the American College of Rheumatology, you know, like a lot of us even still, to this day, we don't know everything, still trying to figure it all out right in terms of COVID. But they know that you need to at least be as far away from that biologic infusion injection as possible for the vaccine have a chance to work. And since I had just had it, I wouldn't be due for my next one until March or April. And she said, We got to try to get you to March or April. And there is a little bit of history behind this. So a lot of patients that have been on vertex in the flu vaccine, for example, doesn't work in one dose, sometimes it's recommended that they get two doses to be able to have an immune response. So they at that time, were kind of basing it on that. And so I waited. And it was incredibly frustrating. I'm pretty sure that's probably what you saw on my social channels, was that here's this thing that we've all been waiting for, with the promise of it, getting back to our lives, but also the promise for, you know, auto immunocompromised patients like myself to feel a little bit more safe, you know, we could get this vaccine and finally feel safe. And I just couldn't get it. And so I had to wait. And the only other thing that came with waiting as I went back into our sort of statewide system of trying to get an appointment, which I think everyone probably still have stories, I'm getting an appointment or getting a test and had to wait and get my initial vaccine. I got that in April, when I was earliest I can get an appointment. Stacey Simms 16:40 I feel like I may have missed something. I'm sure you said it. Did you have to go off your medication and in order to get the shot to get the vaccine? Molly Schreiber 16:47 Yeah, so with the toxin and retexe intakes, obviously, everything varies, but the the longer you can have it out of your body, the better. So your body can start, you know, kind of revamping and not being so suppressed. And so with vertex and they wanted me to try to wait six months, I sort of made my own compromise of April, it would have been nice. And with that came a discussion with my rheumatologist. And she frankly told me that she wasn't keeping any of her patients on this drug until COVID was sorted. And this was again a past discussion now, right? Right now it's as we know, we're not going to stay on this drug because of how unprotected you can be against these viruses that are popping up. And she and I agreed that since I still had some other options on the table, that I would try something else. And retexe in its place, obviously, if she had patients that truly, you know, it was the difference between walking and not or, you know, work and not she was not going to take the drug away from them. But we had to have a frank discussion and with our eye, again, back to what I said earlier to gamble when you take a medication, so it was another Okay, Let's gamble and see what this next one might do. While I was on one that was working. Stacey Simms 18:10 And then after all of that, like many... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22049354

In the News... Omnipod 5 approved, T1D families win NYC lawsuit, no-prescription glucagon, and more! 02/04/2022

In the News... Omnipod 5 approved, T1D families win NYC lawsuit, no-prescription glucagon, and more! Every week “In the News…” brings you the top stories and headlines around the diabetes community. This week: Omnipod 5 is approved, T1D families win a NYC field trip lawsuit, the first drug to delay type 1 DX gets a second chance and getting glucagon without a prescription -- Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST on Facebook and 4:45pm on Instagram ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. If you’re new we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX Looking to get organized? Check out my new guide with top tips to clear your diabetes clutter. Everything from how to start to where to donate and how to keep it from taking over your house. Head over to the home page to get organized. XX Our top story.. Omnipod 5 is approved. The US FDA has okayed the system more than a year after it was submitted – held up like a lot of other diabetes tech due to COVID. This is a hybrid closed loop which means you still to give insulin for meals but it will work hard to keep you in range. It’s the first system approved with phone control and with a bit of A-I.. the system uses what it learns about you to improve dosing. I spoke to the company’s medical director for the podcast this week and I recommend you listen to that episode for tons of detail on how the system works, what makes it different from what’s already on the market and details about insurance, Medicare and a lot more. XX Medtronic is sending out a letter this week to everyone who received one of its new or replacement insulin pumps within the last six months to remind them to make sure they have saved their basal insulin rates on their devices. This is considered an “urgent medical device correction” notice and was prompted by a series of injuries recently due to the use of pumps that had not been properly programmed.. they came out of the box with no basal rates which is normal.. and for whatever reason, users didn’t know to enter them. Moving forward, Medtronic will look into making their pump menus more user-friendly and updating the educational materials that come with the box to be more clear. It’s a good reminder that whatever pump you use, keep track of the programming – we take photos of my son’s pump settings with his phone and back the photos up periodically. https://diatribe.org/medtronic-issues-urgent-basal-insulin-reminder-pump-users?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&fbclid=IwAR0Gsn8KugMTcuzvFKXL7xfZeUgSeHJ9BZzqi7lL38bpuG1qyFrp59i3ooE XX Big ruling in favor of kids with diabetes and other disabilities.. federal court has found that New Yrok City’s Department of Education routinely denies students with diabetes access to field trips and bus transportation. Three sets of parents of T1D kids and the American Diabetes Association sued the district after no care was provided for students on field trips and that the policy of “we’ll call 911” was insufficient for bus riders. The court has ordered the district to train bus drivers and attendants in the use of glucagon and will hire nurses to help on field trips. Many states don’t mandate nurses on fields trips, just trained staff, but NYC does and that made it very difficult for them to follow their own rules. Worth noting, these parents did not seek monetary damages, but filed the suit with the hope of policy change. https://www.diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/2022/federal-court-rules-children-with-diabetes-in-nyc-denied-equal-access-to-field-trips-bus-transportation XX For the second year in a row, in 2021 - more than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes. The story, as reported, is that now Congress should overhaul diabetes care and prevention, promoting consumption of healthier foods, ensuring paid maternity leave, put taxes on sugary drinks and expand access to affordable housing, among other areas. But – and this is just my opinion – they could also tackle the price of insulin and other diabetes medications and supplies. That’s mentioned in this report, but well down the list and isn’t what most of the headlines have picked up on. About 37 million Americans, or 11% of the population, have diabetes, and one in three Americans will develop it in their lifetime if current trends continue, according to the commission. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-diabetes-deaths-top-100000-second-straight-year-federal-panel-urges-2022-01-31/ XX Another chance for teplizumab. The FDA says Provention Bio can resubmit its application for this therapy to delay type 1 diabetes. The drug has been on hold since the agency questioned whether the planned commercial product was comparable to the product used in clinical trials. The resubmission should be ready to go “in the first quarter," the company said. Teplizumab was granted a breakthrough-therapy designation by the FDA but was rejected last year. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/provention-s-med-for-delaying-diabetes-granted-go-ahead-for-fda-resubmission XX Michigan’s attorney general is taking a close look at Eli Lilly, accusing the drugmaker of charging excessive prices for insulin. She’s asked a judge to authorize a probe under the state consumer protection law, including the use of subpoenas to get records and to interview company officials. Michigan supreme court rulings have prevented this kind of investigation before.. the attorney general says those decisions were wrongly decided and “have served to end many consumer cases, and have prevented countless others from ever beginning.” https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/michigan/articles/2022-01-26/michigan-ag-seeks-to-probe-eli-lilly-for-high-insulin-prices XX North Carolina law goes into effect this week that allows pharmacists to dispense emergency glucagon without a prescription. There’s not a lot of detail on this – I’ve reached out to local pharmacists and they didn’t know about it. My question is.. which glucagon do they mean? The old red box one or the newer Baqsimi or Gvoke Hypopen? My guess is that whichever, the no prescription may mean paying completely out of pocket.. but I’ll find out. Interestingly this was part of a bill that also makes birth control available in NC without a prescription which I’d think would be bigger news. XX A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Heather Walker was a guest on the podcast.. she is the author of (Un)doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture… and that book is now available for purchase! As we explained during the episode.. this book explores popular media representations of diabetes.. everything from TV, movies, theater, fiction, fanfiction, fashion and more. It’s meant for academia but you can get it on Amazon.. and I’ll link it up. https://www.amazon.com/doing-Diabetes-Representation-Disability-Palgrave-ebook/dp/B09QYGLB3S/ref=sr_1_2?crid=Y4JJCSJ18KAQ&keywords=%28un%29doing+diabetes&qid=1643724695&s=digital-text&sprefix=undoing+diabetes%2Cdigital-text%2C72&sr=1-2 XX As I mentioned, our long format episode this week is with the folks at Insulet, makers of the omnipod. When that device was approved it bumped out the episode I had scheduled so next week we’re talking about what it’s like when type 1 is just one of the auto immune conditions you live with.. and the other one makes it very difficult to get a COVID vaccine. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/22016438

Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms Type 1 Diabetes

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