Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitoring System Will Be Available to Medicare Beneficiaries with Diabetes in Early 2019, reported by Dexcom, 18 October 2018. Woohoo, great news!
DexCom, a leader in continuous glucose monitoring, announced today the new Dexcom G6 CGM System will be covered for Medicare beneficiaries, having met the category requirements for therapeutic CGM systems by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Coverage for therapeutic CGM includes certain beneficiaries who have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and intensively manage their insulin. The company expects to begin shipping product to Medicare customers in the first part of 2019.
The new Dexcom G6 boasts a number of features that make it a very powerful diabetes management tool.
- Zero fingersticks – No fingersticks needed for calibration or diabetes treatment decisions
- One-touch applicator – Redesigned one-touch applicator that is virtually painless
- Low-profile wearable – New transmitter with a 28 percent lower profile for comfortable wear
- Mobile compatibility – Compatibility with smart device apps to display and share glucose information with up to five people
- Alerts and alarms – Customizable alerts and alarms to proactively warn users of pending dangerous high and low blood sugar levels
Read more: Dexcom G6 CGM Will Be Available to Medicare Beneficiaries with Diabetes in Early 2019
Inreda seems to be a new player in the closed loop, artificial pancreas market, with their fully autonomous closed loop system. Inreda Diabetic B.V. is located in the Netherlands
Our device autonomously regulates your glucose level, without having to ask you to enter carbs values, calculating and injecting insulin etc. Non-stop days and nights, our device is sensing the amount of glucose in the blood and its trend. If something needs to be done, it can infuse either insulin to lower the blood glucose level, or infuse glucagon to rise it.
Follow Inreda: We develop a bi-hormonal artificial pancreas our way
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sues insulin makers was reported by Jeremy Olson of the Star Tribune, 17 October 2018. Interesting!
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson targeted drug manufacturers in her lawsuit Tuesday for inflating the cost of insulin medication, but she accused others of being complicit in the price-gouging of sick and needy patients with diabetes.
The federal lawsuit named three companies in Sanofi-Aventis, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly that since 2002 have tripled the list prices of their synthetic insulin medications, which people with diabetes need to manage their blood sugar and reduce their risk of disability and death. But Swanson said their price hikes are due in part to the rebate structure created by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) who have ignored the rising costs and their impact on patients.
“This has been going on way, way too long,” she said. “Change has to come one way or the other.”
Read more: Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sues insulin makers
