Beta Bionics Wins Readers’ Choice for Medtech Company of the Year was reported by Omar Ford on MDDIOnline.com, 20 December 2018.
Beta Bionics has been named medtech company of the year. Nearly 44% of MD+DI readers participating in a special poll voted for the Boston, MA-based company, which is developing an artificial intelligence-powered bionic pancreas, called the iLet, to help manage type 1 diabetes. Beta Bionics pulled ahead of other competitors like Boston Scientific, which was MD+DI Editor’s Choice for medtech company of the year.
Each year, MD+DI’s editors take a long, hard look at the medical device and diagnostics companies that rose above the ranks over the past 12 months. It can be savvy business strategies, breakthrough products, or operational execution that set the best of the best apart.
Beta Bionics has been making significant strides in the diabetes management landscape by scoring an IDE and a plush partnership with Senseonics Holdings.
Read more: Beta Bionics Wins Readers’ Choice
The Microbiome Strikes Again was published in Nature Microbiology, 17 December 2018. The actual title is “Genomic variation and strain-specific functional adaptation in the human gut microbiome during early life.”
The human digestive tract hosts a community of trillions of microbes—called the microbiome—that play an important role in our immune system. Funded in part by JDRF, Dr. Ramnik Xavier and his team are taking part in the DIABIMMUNE clinical trial, which follows microbiome development from birth until age three in Finland, Estonia and Russia.
Early-onset autoimmune diseases are common in Finland and Estonia, but are less prevalent in Russia. Compare Finland with its Russian border: Finland has the highest rate of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the world, with approximately 60 children per 100,000 developing T1D, as opposed to the Russian border, which has one-sixth as many children progressing.
Dr. Xavier found that Finnish and Estonian infants have a distinct early microbiome compared to Russian infants. Furthermore, he found several bacteria that were highly abundant in Finland and Estonia and that these produce factors that inhibit the immune system, possibly contributing to the development of T1D.
Read more: The Microbiome Strikes Again
What is Kaleido? Well, it’s another patch pump under development in the Netherlands by ViCentra.
Kaleido was launched in the Netherlands in 2018 and will be rolled out to other European countries in 2019. Kaleido’s very small size is achieved using a novel dispensing mechanism that also provides best-in-class accuracy of insulin delivery. The pump can either be worn on the body like a patch pump or in a pocket or case like a traditional pump. ViCentra believes that if healthcare products are simple to understand, beautiful to look at and deliver superb results, they are more enjoyable to use and more likely to help people achieve great things. They don’t design for patients – they design for people. BRING IT ON!!!
Read more: Hello Kaleido
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Lilly and Sigilon Therapeutics Announce Strategic Collaboration to Develop Encapsulated Cell Therapies for the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes was announced by Lilly.com, 4 April 2018.
Sigilon is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company that is focused on discovering and developing “living therapeutics” with its Afibromer™ technology product platform. Lilly is a global biopharmaceutical company and a worldwide leader in diabetes care, offering a wide range of therapies and a strong commitment to cutting-edge research.
Encapsulated cell therapy is an emerging area of biopharmaceutical research that aims to unleash the therapeutic potential of cells to treat serious diseases without the need for immunosuppression. This approach holds promise to address chronic conditions, such as type 1 diabetes. Research leading to the discovery of Afibromer biomaterials was funded by grants from JDRF International and the Leona M. Helmsley and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and conducted under the leadership of Daniel Anderson, Ph.D., and Robert Langer, Sc.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Read more: Lilly and Sigilon Therapeutics Announce Strategic Collaboration
