In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:
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Insulin Costs Drop
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Omnipod Dash Travel Alert
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FDA At-a-Glance Nutrition Info
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Modulim & Amputation Research
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FTC’s Ultimatum to CVS Health
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ADA & Xeris on Hypoglycemia Education
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Turmeric & Diabetes
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Why US Healthcare is Broken with Diabetech (video)
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Insulin Costs Plummet: A Decade-Long High Comes to an End by Tori Marsh for GoodRx.com, 15 January 2025.
The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries. And major manufacturers made voluntary price cuts. These moves drove big declines in insulin prices. Products such as Lantus, Novolin N, Humalog, and Humulin N have all seen meaningful reductions. They reflect a broader shift toward greater insulin accessibility.
The data below illustrate this promising trend: Prices steadily dropped to an average of $0.19 per insulin unit in mid-2024 from a high of $0.33 in 2019. This is the lowest average recorded in a decade. And it marks a 42% decrease from 2019. The price dips provide much-needed relief for those managing diabetes. The reductions signal progress but also underscore the need for continued action to ensure insulin remains affordable for all who need it.
Read more: Insulin Costs Plummet: A Decade-Long High Comes to an End
Planning international travel with your Omnipod DASH? was posted/emailed by Omnipod.com, January 2025.
There are updated guidelines for Omnipod DASH users traveling abroad. Due to the recent shutdown of 2G and 3G networks in some countries, your Omnipod DASH Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM) may experience faster battery depletion if used while traveling abroad in an impacted region. To maximize battery life, please turn Airplane mode on before you depart. This will not affect the functionality of the Omnipod DASH® System. Turning Airplane mode on will enhance battery performance even when you’re not traveling, helping your device operate more efficiently.
How to turn Airplane Mode on:
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- Press and hold the Power button until a screen appears with Airplane Mode option
- Tap Airplane Mode to toggle it to ON, as shown in the screen below
As always, ensure you have a backup insulin delivery plan in place in case of emergency. If you have any questions, please give our Customer Care team a call at 1-800-591-3455 – we’re here to help you.
Read more: Planning international travel with your Omnipod DASH?
FDA Proposes Requiring At-a-Glance Nutrition Information on the Front of Packaged Foods published by FDA.gov, 14 January 2025.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is announcing an important step to provide nutrition information to consumers by proposing to require a front-of-package (FOP) nutrition label for most packaged foods. This proposal plays a key role in the agency’s nutrition priorities, part of a government-wide effort to combat the nation’s chronic disease crisis. If finalized, the proposal would give consumers readily visible information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars content—three nutrients directly linked with chronic diseases when consumed in excess.
The proposed FOP nutrition label, also referred to as the “Nutrition Info box,” provides information on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars content in a simple format showing whether the food has “Low,” “Med” or “High” levels of these nutrients. It complements the FDA’s iconic Nutrition Facts label, which gives consumers more detailed information about the nutrients in their food.
“The science on saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars is clear,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Nearly everyone knows or cares for someone with a chronic disease that is due, in part, to the food we eat. It is time we make it easier for consumers to glance, grab and go. Adding front-of-package nutrition labeling to most packaged foods would do that. We are fully committed to pulling all the levers available to the FDA to make nutrition information readily accessible as part of our efforts to promote public health.”
A substantial body informs the proposed Nutrition Info box of research conducted by the FDA, including a scientific literature review, consumer focus groups and a peer-reviewed experimental study
Read more: FDA Proposes Requiring At-a-Glance Nutrition Information on the Front of Packaged Foods
Will Modulim End the Amputation Epidemic? by Jill Kato for Innovation.uci.edu, 17 December 2024.
By reducing the need for diabetes-related amputations, Modulim is poised to achieve the biotech trifecta: improve patient outcomes, deliver cost savings to insurance companies, and streamline physicians’ workload. Modulated Imaging Inc., now known as Modulim, is a medical device startup focused on preserving human limbs with medical imaging technology. With David Cuccia as chief technology officer, Modulim is set to bring transformative changes to the field of diabetes care.
Combining near-infrared light and digital projectors, the researchers at the Beckman Laser Institute were able to capture extensive information about tissue in a novel manner. Cuccia and his colleagues invented Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI), a non-invasive light-based imaging technique that can capture data on oxygen levels and hemoglobin concentrations in the skin. Instead of a single data point, SFDI captures whole images and examines tissue up to five millimeters deep. Moreover, it’s much quicker than other assessment methods, delivering widefield results in seconds without exposing patients to harmful radiation.
Through their clinical collaborations, Cuccia and Amaan Mazhar learned more about the scale of the amputation epidemic. Every 20 seconds a person with diabetes undergoes a lower-limb amputation. Poor circulation in diabetes patients starves tissue of nutrients and leads to skin breakdown, which results in chronic ulcers. Nerve damage, a common complication of diabetes, often masks the symptoms of these ulcers. As a result, patients may not even know they have an issue until a chronic ulcer has formed, leading to infection, gangrene, and hospitalizations. In severe cases, this can lead to the need for amputation.
In addition to the personal trauma of losing part of a lower limb, amputations come with significant financial costs. In total, the treatment of diabetic limb-related complications costs about $17 billion in the United States, which is more than the top five most costly cancers.
Read more:
FTC Issues an “Ultimatum” to CVS Health, as reported by Scott Strumello on https://blog.sstrumello.com, 20 September 2025.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan issued kind of an ultimatum to CVS Health for the company’s continued refusal to comply with FTC’s lawful subpoenas for information: either comply by supplying the data in the subpoena or answer questions in person (electronically), or FTC will file paperwork to have the CVS Health’s corporate attorney (general counsel” forcibly removed from the role for his refusal to comply with its subpoenas.
The last few paragraphs of its letter are really stunning. I don’t recall ever having read something like that before. It also suggests that FTC has finished with playing nice, they will get the data they requested in 2022 or they will have the man standing in the way forcibly removed from his job!
It notes: For example, Rule 4.1(e) provides that the [Federal Trade] Commission may “publicly reprimand, suspend, or disbar” attorneys who engage in “obstructionist, contemptuous, or unprofessional conduct.” 16 C.F.R. § 4.1(e).
Read more: Chair Lina M. Khan RE Caremark/ESI/Optum: Commission File No. 2410005 January 17, 2025
The ADA & Xeris Pharmaceuticals Collaborate to Provide Hypoglycemia Education & Awareness as announced by the American Diabetes Association and published on PRNewsWire.com, 21 January 2025.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and Xeris Pharmaceuticals, a national supporter of the ADA, are pleased to announce a multi-year strategic partnership to reinforce the importance of prescribing glucagon, preferably ready-to-use, for all individuals with diabetes who are treated with insulin and/or insulin secretagogues or those at high risk of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose, also called low blood sugar), in line with the ADA’s recently updated Standards of Care in Diabetes—2025 (Standards of Care).
“Severe hypoglycemia is life-threatening, and people with diabetes on blood glucose-lowering medication are at risk for hypoglycemia. Thus, we must act with urgency to educate people about the importance of having a treatment plan in place that includes having glucagon on hand,” said Charles “Chuck” Henderson, the ADA’s chief executive officer. “Through this important partnership, we can save lives by ensuring individuals with diabetes who are treated with insulin have access to glucagon, preferably a ready-to-use formulation, so they can make a plan and be ready.”
It is estimated that up to 46% of people with type 1 diabetes and 21% of those with type 2 diabetes using insulin experience at least one severe hypoglycemia event each year. Hypoglycemia is conservatively responsible for more than 202,000 emergency department visits annually with approximately 25% being admitted to the hospital.
The ADA, with support from Xeris, seeks to rectify the low rates of appropriate glucagon prescriptions by developing educational materials and training resources for healthcare professionals and people living with diabetes, as well as through a national awareness campaign to educate people on who are at risk for severe hypoglycemia and should have glucagon, as a safety net.
Read more: ADA & Xeris Pharmaceuticals Collaborate to Provide Hypoglycemia Education & Awareness
Turmeric and diabetes can be a healthy combination published by Diabetes Care for DiabetesCareCommunity.ca, 21 January 2025.
A relative of ginger, turmeric is a spice from the root of the turmeric plant (Curcuma longa) native to Southeast Asia. While used in kitchens around the world, turmeric has been lauded for its medicinal qualities for some 2,000 years thanks to its active component called curcumin. Within Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine in particular, curcumin is used to help treat eye infections, burns, wounds, coughs, and a host of other ailments.
Curcumin’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant elements have proven useful in reducing muscle aches and swelling from arthritis too. In addition, the spice has been shown to support healthy kidney function and even reduce symptoms of anxiety.
What does turmeric do for diabetes? There is evidence that turmeric may help to lower blood sugar levels and in turn, prevent diabetes-related complications, such as metabolic syndrome. Studies have shown that people using turmeric supplements significantly decreased their average blood sugar levels (HbA1c), as well as cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
What does the research say about turmeric and insulin sensitivity? curcumin can help improve the function of beta cells which produce insulin. It can reduce inflammation and oxidative stress which can contribute to insulin sensitivity. However, more research is needed to determine how effective the spice can be in improving insulin sensitivity in the long term.
Read more: Turmeric and diabetes can be a healthy combination
Why US Healthcare is Broken & AI Solutions Ahead by Justin Eastzer for Diabetech.com, 23 December 2024.
From skyrocketing insurance premiums to record-high coverage denials by companies like United Healthcare, Justin Eastzer explores why the $5 trillion US healthcare system lacks transparency and leaves consumers paying more for less. He’s joined by Jeff Delverne, Director of Payer Relations at Beta Bionics to unpack industry consolidation, the role of PBMs in driving profits, the impact of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and the potential of AI to revolutionize healthcare—highlighting Microsoft’s partnership with Epic to integrate generative AI into electronic health records.
CLICK HERE to read Jeff Delverne’s Substack.