Savvy Updates, 3/30/20: Covid-19 and Diabetes, Groceries and Covid-19, Biosimilar Insulins, Amylin

Covid-19 and Diabetes will be presented via Zoom by Carolyn Robertson (APRN, MSN, CDE, Principal at Customized Diabetes Education, Clinical Nurse Specialist (ACNS-BC), and Board Certified Advanced Diabetes Management).

UPDATE: “Hello, I have just learned that ZOOM will not accommodate all the people who want to attend the session. I am capped at 100 and there are over 150 people who want to participate. As a result, I will do a second presentation on March 31 at 6:30pm PDT . My apologies in advance if this causes you a problem . But, ZOOM was unable to expand the volume due to limited broadband services. The meeting code for the program on Tuesday is 687-925-509 For each presentation, the first 100 who join the meeting will be able to be part of the live program. In each case, it will be recorded so if you cannot enter the meeting, I will be able to send you a transcript. Thanks Carol

She is offering a 75 minute formal presentation and answers to some of the questions she has been getting. With the practice now of social distancing, she will be using video conference technology provided by Zoom. This session will be sponsored by the New York Diabetes Program. The session will be recorded so if you cannot attend or life gets in the way

- 1st PRESENTATION: Monday, March 30 at 5pm PST (that’s California, USA)
- HOW: Join via Zoom: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/183660674
- Meeting ID: 183 660 674
- 2nd PRESENTATION: Tuesday, March 31 at 5pm PST
- HOW: Join via Zoom: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/687925509
- Meeting ID: 687 925 509

Watch a doctor demonstrate how to safely bring groceries home during the coronavirus crisis was offered by DailyKOS.com, 25 March 2020.

Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen created a video to demonstrate the steps we should all be taking to protect ourselves from getting this disease. This may seem like over-the-top advice, but desperate times call for desperate measures. This video is a little lengthy, but well worth the time if it helps save lives. He adds, at the beginning, “I’m a healthcare provider under a lot of stress, please be nice in your comments”

FDA Move Opens Door to Biosimilar Insulins, Other Biologics was reported by Miriam E. Tucker for Medscape.com, 24 March 2020.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now officially changed the way it regulates insulin and other biologics to facilitate approval for biosimilars.

As of March 23, 2020, insulin and other biologics will be regulated by the FDA as biological products rather than drugs. This means that any insulin (or other biologic) currently approved as a so-called “follow-on” will now be deemed a biosimilar and will be interchangeable with the branded products. Healthcare providers will be able to find these products in the “Purple Book” rather than the “Orange Book” from which they will be removed.

This is a “historic day and a landmark moment for patients with diabetes and other serious medical conditions, as insulin and certain other biologic drugs transition to a different regulatory pathway,” said Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, principal deputy commissioner of the FDA and Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The move was mandated by the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, which created a 10-year window to prepare for the transition of biological products previously regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act to the Public Health Service Act.

Amylin: The Other Hormone Affected by Type 1 Diabetes was written by Ginger Vieira for InsulinNation.com, 24 March 2020. Amylin manages gastric emptying, glucagon, and hunger; you don’t have enough of this hormone but adoption of synthetic Amylin is low

Amylin is a “37-amino acid peptide hormone” that wasn’t discovered until 1987 — which could explain why compensating for its absence is so far behind our options to replace insulin. Amylin is actually “co-secreted” with insulin, produced by the same beta-cells that produce insulin, stimulated by the presence of food, like insulin.

In people with type 1 diabetes, the beta-cells are being destroyed which means — as you already know — they are no longer producing insulin. But they are also no longer producing amylin.

Amylin works in two ways to help manage your blood sugar levels after you eat or drink calories.

- Amylin slows down the rate at which your stomach empties the food you eat into your small intestine.
- Amylin helps manage your blood sugar after eating is by suppressing your pancreas’s production of glucagon.

Glucagon also triggers your appetite, which means that by suppressing your body’s glucagon production, amylin is suppressing your appetite. Thus, people with diabetes who don’t have sufficient amylin present, tend to experience a delay in feeling satisfied or full after eating.

Gary Scheiner of Integrated Diabetes Solutions says one of the biggest reasons most people with type 1 diabetes don’t even know about amylin is because health insurance providers are reluctant to provide coverage — in fact, most won’t.