A First Experience with the New Eversense Implantable CGM is a GREAT review by Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine.com on her experiences and impressions of the new Senseonics Eversense CGM!  She addresses almost everything you’d like to know, with pictures too! 

Her final comments:My final word for now would be this: Do not opt to use Eversense simply because you are looking for something “easier” than other CGMs available. As noted, this system requires a lot of calibrations and some daily effort, so you have to be committed. But if you’re willing to do the work, it is really cool to be free of ongoing insertions and audible alarms, and the Eversense app is very clear and easy to use.

My BG control has improved! Whether that’s from simply focusing on a new toy, or truly a credit to the Eversense system is hard to say. Despite the work required, I am actually enjoying using Eversense. And enjoyment = motivation. So kudos to Senseonics right there.

Read more: A First Experience with Eversense Implantable CGM

Rethinking Glucagon for Emergency Use and Beyond is an exciting review by Mike Hoskins of DiabetesMine, 9 January 2019. We’re on the verge of a paradigm shift that requires our D-Community to rethink how we use this fast-acting glucose booster beyond just emergency situations.

Two new products expected to shake up the glucagon market soon are the nasal “puff up your nose” glucagon mist by Eli Lilly that went to regulators in Summer 2018, and a ready-to-use rescue injection pen by Chicago-based Xeris Pharmaceuticals set for an FDA hearing in June 2019. Incredibly, these will be the first new forms of glucagon available in SIX DECADES (!).

While that’s transformative in itself, they set the stage for a whole new generation of glucagon products; we could soon see a quick-grab glucagon hypo-treatment available in gyms or schools just like defibrillators are today, and future “micro-dosing” glucagon that could be used regularly as needed for quick BG boosts. Wow!

Thanks Mike!  Read more:  Rethinking Glucagon for Emergency Use and Beyond

Trina Founder G. Ford Gilbert Pleads Guilty in Bribery Case was published by Cheryl Clark on MedPageToday.com, 7 January 2019.  MedPageToday has followed this case in several articles, culminating in this guilty plea.  It caught my interest as there was an Artificial Pancreas Treatment Center in my hometown … and I was always curious about what they could possibly be doing, years before the current generation of closed loop insulin delivery systems.  After the investigations started, I called the local number and reached one of the investors, who told me that this was absolutely a cure for type 2 diabetes and a significant advance for those with Type 1 diabetes! 

G. Ford Gilbert, founder of a chain of controversial diabetes treatment clinics, pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of conspiring to commit bribery, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alabama. He had previously faced seven counts of federal health care fraud, bribery, and other charges in Alabama federal district court related to an alleged “pyramid scheme” with his network of diabetes insulin infusion clinics.

Gilbert, a Sacramento lawyer, along with an Alabama legislator and a lobbyist, were indicted in April for their efforts to influence the passage of a law that would force a major insurer in the state, Blue Cross Blue Shield, to pay for Gilbert’s “Artificial Pancreas Treatment,” which the insurer had stopped reimbursing. As a condition of the deal, Gilbert, who sold clinic franchises to investor-owners under the name “Trina Health,” will likely face six months in prison instead of the maximum five years of incarceration, plus six months of home detention.

Gilbert had pitched the weekly or twice monthly “pulsed” insulin infusions as a near-miracle treatment for diabetic complications: healing wounds, reducing hypertension, reversing heart disease and cognitive impairment, and other adverse macro- and microvascular effects.

Read more: Trina Founder G. Ford Gilbert Pleads Guilty in Bribery Case

Patients prescribed this class of drug (DPP-4 drugs, such as Januvia, Tradjenta and others) had a 58% increase in risk for BP (odds ratio 1.58, 95% CI 1.25-2.00, P<0.001), a condition that causes large, fluid-filled blisters, said Seon Gu Lee, MD, of the CHA University School of Medicine in Seongnam, and colleagues. A subgroup analysis by sex found that men had nearly twice the risk (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.39-2.63, P<0.001), while the association was not significant in women (OR 1.24, 95% CI 0.88-1.75, P=0.21), the researchers reported online in JAMA Dermatology.

Don’t panic … but you might want to check with your endo if you are a T1 taking DPP-4 inhibitors. According to the JAMA Dermatology review, the risk of bullous pemphigoid was highest in male patients using vildagliptin (Trade names: Galvus/vildagluse/Gliptus, Eucrea, Galvumet).

Read more:

• DPP-4 Inhibitors Linked With Bullous Pemphigoid
• Association of Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 Inhibitor Use With Risk of Bullous Pemphigoid in Patients With Diabetes

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