Savvy Update 10/15/2018: Tidepool + Loop, Wireless Charging, Dual Hormone Patch Pump

Tidepool intends to deliver Loop as a supported, FDA-regulated mobile app in the App Store, as announced on Tidepool.org, 8 October 2018. Very exciting news, especially for the DIY community of Loopers and #WeAreNotWaiting!

Tidepool has kicked off a project to officially support Loop, the currently do-it-yourself (DIY), open source automated insulin delivery app for iPhone. Our goal is to deliver an officially supported, FDA-regulated product, broadly available via the iOS App Store. For the sake of clarity, we will call this effort “Tidepool Loop” until we announce an official name.
We’re working closely with grant-making organizations and commercial device makers who we expect will help with funding this effort. While the details of these funding programs are being worked out, we will keep their identities confidential (which isn’t easy for us — we like being open). To make this project happen, we will definitely need the generous support from donors, grant-making organizations and device makers. If you believe in this effort, we gratefully accept donations on our website.
We expect the Tidepool Loop app to be compatible with at least one, and hopefully many more commercial, in-warranty insulin pumps. We are working closely with pump vendors on their “iPump” capabilities, analogous to the “iCGM” de novo designation released by the FDA in March 2018.
Several members of the DIY community, including Loop project lead Pete Schwamb and online documentation and support hero Katie DiSimone have joined Tidepool full-time to help with this effort.

While I LOVE the benefits of the all the advances in D technologies … and I do use them But my nightstand looks like a space control center, my purse is laden with power banks and charging cables and I often bargain with my husband for time on the Apple charger in the car. In fact, I challenged my husband (a retired computer design engineer) and his best friend (a retired chief physicist) to develop a way of charging my devices without having to plug in, at all. Just by simply walking around. It’s been over a year and no such technology has come forward.

BUT … welcome Israeli startup, Humavox, which is turning places you normally store your devices (such as briefcase/purse, backpack and gym bag) into wireless battery chargers! COOL! Wireless charging anywhere you want it was reported by Brian Blum on Israel21c.org, 3 October 2018.

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to worry about charging your devices and toys? If wherever you usually put them – in a briefcase, backpack or gym bag for the phone; in the toy box for the truck – was itself a battery charger?

“When we get into our cars, we intuitively drop our phones into the cup holder. When we return home, we put our Fitbits and wearable devices into a drawer or on a nightstand. When we head out to the gym, we put our wireless earbuds into a bag,” Lachman tells ISRAEL21c. “We have all these storage units scattered around our lives. What Humavox does is turn everyday objects that are currently passive into active charging devices.”

Humavox’s technology consists of a tiny transmitter that’s embedded into a bag or cup holder and a tiny receiver that’s placed in your phone or wearable. Electricity is sent wirelessly via a standard called near-field radio frequency (RF).

Because the charging takes place at short distances in an enclosed space, Lachman insists it’s not dangerous. “It’s a safe, leaner version of a microwave oven.”

A Humavox-powered bowl or bag can charge multiple devices at once, removing the guesswork of remembering which device goes with which charger. Humavox identifies which devices are in the charging space and quickly understands their specific power needs, battery material and charging curve. Devices don’t have to be perfectly aligned on a charging pad, as with most of today’s wireless charging solutions.

The bad news? Don’t expect to be able to run out and buy a Humavox wireless home charging “kit” any time soon, though – the company is focused for now on working with manufacturers and third parties to include Humavox’s technology out-of-the-box.

NIDDK Funds Development of Dual Hormone Patch Pump for People with Diabetes was reported by ASweetLife.org, October 2018.

SFC Fluidics announced it has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease of the National Institutes of Health to develop a patch pump that can deliver both insulin and glucagon to people with Type 1 diabetes. Glucagon is a hormone that helps the liver release glucose in order to raise blood sugar levels.

The small system in development is the size of existing insulin-only patch pumps, and SFC’s proposed patch pump system will have the necessary safety features and dose accuracy to allow automated insulin and glucagon dosing. Another proprietary feature of the proposed system is a flow confirmation sensor that determines whether dose administration has occurred as expected in real-time. This sensor will quickly alert to any problems within the patch pump such as occlusions, leaks, depleted drug supply, accidental misloading, and any mechanical/electrical failure. According to Dr. Forrest Payne, the Principal Investigator on the project, “The suite of patents and patent applications that covers SFC Fluidics’ system – from the pump to the valves to the sensors – will allow for development of a next generation dual-hormone patch pump that combines safety, convenience and small size with excellent accuracy and precision.”