In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:
-
- FDA Approves Kristy – Biosimilar to Novolog
- Dexcom Responds to Sensor Failures & More
- ‘Ozempic Teeth’ GLP-1 Side Effect
- Innovations in Preventing/Treating Hypos
- Type 1 Diabetes Companion Cards by Alex Durussel-Baker
- Hypothyroidism Linked to Gut Microbiome
- New Form of T1D Identified in Africa
- NIDDK STUDY: CGM with Data Sharing in Older Adult T1Ds
- Male Virility Affected By Minimal Rises In BGs
- Doctors Using AI Perceived Less Favorably
- Psychologists ID 3rd Path to ‘Good Life’ Full of Curiosity & Challenge
Kirsty, an Interchangeable Biosimilar to Novolog, Gets FDA Approval by Jaymin Kang, PharmD for EndocrinologyAdvisor.com, 18 July 2025.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Kirsty (insulin aspart-xjhz), an interchangeable biosimilar to Novolog (insulin aspart), to improve glycemic control in adults and pediatric patients with diabetes mellitus.
Insulin aspart-xjhz is the first rapid-acting interchangeable insulin biosimilar and the fourth insulin biosimilar approved by the FDA, following Rezvoglar (insulin glargine-aglr), Semglee (insulin glargine-yfgn), and Merilog (insulin-aspart-szjj). The interchangeability designation allows Kirsty to be substituted at the pharmacy for the reference product, subject to state pharmacy laws.
“The FDA approval of Kirsty, the first and only interchangeable biosimilar rapid-acting insulin aspart in the US, is a significant step forward in our efforts to make insulin more accessible and affordable,” said Shreehas Tambe, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon Biologics Ltd. “With Kirsty, we are expanding treatment choices for people living with diabetes and advancing our ambition to be a global leader in addressing unmet needs in diabetes care.”
Kirsty is supplied at 100 units/mL in a 3 mL single-patient-use prefilled pen, as well as a 10 mL multiple-dose vial. The rapid-acting human insulin analog can be administered as a subcutaneous injection within 5 to 10 minutes before a meal into the abdominal area, thigh, buttocks, or upper arm, or as a continuous subcutaneous infusion using an insulin pump, if compatible. Intravenous administration is also approved, but only under medical supervision with close monitoring of blood glucose and potassium levels.
Read more: Kirsty, an Interchangeable Biosimilar to Novolog, Gets FDA Approval
Dexcom Responds to Sensor Failures & More with Justin Eastzer for Diabetech.com, 24 July 2025.
After receiving over 2,000 messages from people experiencing sensor failures, we went straight to the top. Dexcom President and COO Jake Leach joined me to answer the tough questions—about sensor failures, recent receiver recalls, and an FDA warning letter.
In March, Dexcom received an FDA warning letter for unvalidated material changes made to the G7. Although Dexcom claims accuracy wasn’t affected, the incident highlights the stringent oversight medical devices face. And recently, a Class I recall was issued for over 700,000 receivers due to rare but critical speaker failures that could cause alerts to go silent. Dexcom responded by offering free replacements and an online tool to check the status of your device.
More troubling for everyday users has been a rise in G7 sensor issues—including “goosenecking,” where the sensor filament fails to insert properly, and connectivity failures that leave users without readings for days. Traveling without backups has only added to the stress. I shared my own experience—and what I’ve heard from others—in a recent podcast episode with two experts in the field.
‘Ozempic Teeth’: Another Effect of GLP-1 Agonists? by Jennifer Henderson for MedPageToday.com, 22 July 2025.
Cases of “Ozempic mouth” and “Ozempic teeth” have recently been reported in the news, with most of the problems — including gum inflammation, tooth decay, and even bad breath — linked to a condition known as dry mouth. “All of the GLP-1 agonists that we use now cause changes in how everything is secreted in your GI tract,” said Ann Marie Defnet, MD, who specializes in obesity medicine and bariatric surgery at Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City. This “definitely has an impact on saliva.” People taking GLP-1 drugs also tend to be a bit dehydrated because they are often not hungry or thirsty, she noted.
“One of the big things I always counsel my patients on is they just have to remember to continue to drink water, even if they’re not thirsty, even if they’re not hungry,” Defnet said. “That seems to help with all of these symptoms.”
Read more: ‘Ozempic Teeth:’ Another Effect of GLP-1 Agonists?
Innovations in Preventing and Treating Hypoglycemia by Paul Heltzel for diaTribe.org, 21 July 2025.
Renowned experts discussed the latest in technology and medical innovations for the prevention and treatment of severe low blood sugar events during a panel at the 2025 American Diabetes Association (ADA) scientific conference in Chicago. Dr. Alan Moses, board chair of the diaTribe Foundation, moderated the panel, which focused on raising awareness about hypoglycemia—an ever-present concern for people with type 1 diabetes. He was joined by:
-
-
-
- Dean Kamen, inventor of the first wearable insulin pump, founder of DEKA Research & Development, ARMI, and co-founder of Sequel Med Tech
- Stefany Shaheen, diabetes advocate, entrepreneur, author, and candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives
- Dr. Anh Nguyen, chief medical officer of Xeris Biopharmaceutical
- Dr. Joanna Mitri, chief medical officer at Sequel Med Tech
- Dr. Bryce Nelson, chief of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University
-
-
The Key Takeaways:
-
-
-
- A panel discussion highlighted promising advances in diabetes technology and medicine aimed at preventing and managing hypoglycemia.
- Real-world experiences illustrated the challenges that people with type 1 diabetes face with severe low blood sugar events.
- Early screening and new therapies can help move toward delaying or preventing the progression of type 1 diabetes.
-
-
Read more: Innovations in Preventing and Treating Hypoglycemia
A great new product: Type 1 Diabetes Companion Cards, by Alex Durussel-Baker of DiabetesbyDesign.org, with an exciting Kickstarter campaign that launched on July 10, 2025, and is on target to meet its goal.
Alex Durussel-Baker, an award-winning designer and founder of Diabetes by Design, has just launched a Kickstarter campaign that utilizes bold, tongue-in-cheek illustrations paired with prompts and insights to change the way we discuss type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed with T1D at 30, Alex quickly realised the emotional and social side of diabetes is often overlooked. Her response? A tactile, art-led tool to spark better conversations and reduce diabetes burnout. The cards are playful, practical, and grounded in both real-life experience and medical insight. The T1D Companion Cards come in two decks:
-
-
-
- Reflect: a reflective tool for anyone navigating this 24/7 chronic condition without losing their mind.
- Connect: a “serious game” that playfully gets people opening up, sharing, and connecting in ways that surprise even them, to be used in clinics or peer meetups.
-
-
According to Alex, “WE HIT OUR FUNDING GOAL IN THE FIRST 3 DAYS! The first print run is now secured thanks to our incredible backers, and the Type 1 Diabetes Companion Cards will land on their doorstep this autumn. With over two weeks still to go, we have a special opportunity to go beyond the basics and scale the impact of this project.
Read more:
Hypothyroidism Linked to Gut Microbiome Disturbances by Nancy A. Melville for Medscape.com, 22 July 2025.
People with hypothyroidism exhibit significantly higher levels of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and distinct bacterial profiles compared to those without the thyroid condition. “[The research] supports the idea that improving gut health could have far-reaching effects beyond digestion, possibly even helping to prevent autoimmune diseases, such as Hashimoto thyroiditis,” said senior author Ruchi Mathur, MD, director of the Diabetes Outpatient Treatment and Education Center and director of Clinical Operations of Medically Associated Science and Technology, at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, for the study, which was presented at ENDO 2025: The Endocrine Society Annual Meeting.
“Some people have theorized that perhaps delayed gut motility in hypothyroidism promotes the development of SIBO; however, there are many other factors within this complex interplay between the microbiome and the thyroid that could also be playing a role. For example, SIBO leads to inflammation and weakening of the gut barrier,” Mathur explained. Furthermore, “levothyroxine absorption and cycling of the thyroid hormone occurs predominantly in the small bowel, [while the] microbiome plays a key role in the absorption of iron, selenium, iodine, and zinc, which are critical for thyroid function.”
Read more: Hypothyroidism Linked to Gut Microbiome Disturbances
New form of type 1 diabetes identified in study by Nancy Lapid for Independent.co.uk, 23 July 2025.
Type 1 diabetes, where the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas stop working in childhood or young adulthood, has always been attributed to an autoimmune process in which the immune system produces so-called autoantibodies that mistakenly attack the pancreas.
However, a study involving 894 volunteers with youth-onset diabetes in Cameroon, Uganda, and South Africa found that 65 per cent did not have the usual autoantibodies typically seen in people with type 1 diabetes in other parts of the world. Nor did they have the genes that usually predispose to the disease, or features consistent with other known types of diabetes, such as type 2 and malnutrition-related diabetes. “This suggests that many young people in this region have a different form of type 1 diabetes altogether and is not autoimmune in origin,” study leader Dana Dabelea of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus said.
Comparing the data to studies in the U.S., the researchers found that 15 per cent of Black Americans diagnosed with type 1 diabetes had a form of the disease similar to the patients in Sub-Saharan Africa, characterised by negative autoantibodies and a low genetic risk score, according to a report in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology. White Americans with T1D, however, showed the typical autoimmune pattern, and even if they didn’t have detectable autoantibodies, their genetics still pointed to autoimmune diabetes.
“These findings are a wake-up call,” study co-leader Professor Moffat Nyirenda of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit said in a statement. “They challenge our assumptions about type 1 diabetes and show that the disease may present differently in African children and adolescents. We urgently need to deepen our investigations into the biological and environmental factors driving this form of diabetes and ensure our diagnostic and treatment approaches are fit for purpose in African settings.”
Read more: New form of type 1 diabetes identified in study
NEW STUDY: Continuous Glucose Monitoring with Data Sharing in Older Adults with Type 1 Diabetes* and Their Care Partners – RECRUITING for National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases Share Plus.
The purpose of this study is to test the Share Plus intervention aimed at improving the use of data sharing between people with diabetes and their care partners in order to maximize the benefits of continuous glucose monitoring.
Hypothesis: Compared to the control group, persons with diabetes enrolled in the Share plus intervention group will experience clinically significant improvements in time-in-range (TIR) (>5%) at 12- and 24-weeks into the study, and improvement in diabetes distress. Care partners enrolled in the Share plus intervention group will experience lower diabetes distress at 12 and 24 weeks into the study.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Study Contact: Bruno Gonzales, BA
- Email: Bruno.Rodriguez-Gonzales@utah.edu
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Male Virility Affected By Minimal Rises In Blood Sugar by Dennis Thompson for HealthDay.com, 21 July 2025.
Even small increases in blood sugar might put a dent in a man’s virility, a new study says. Minimally elevated blood glucose levels are linked to a decline in sperm movement and erectile function, even if levels are below the threshold for diabetes, according to findings presented at the Endocrine Society’s recent meeting in California. The results indicate that minor changes in a man’s health can affect their virility more than the ebbing of hormone levels that come with aging, researchers said.
“Although age and testosterone levels have long been considered an impetus for men’s declining sexual health, our research indicates that these changes more closely correlate with modest increases in blood sugar and other metabolic changes,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael Zitzmann, a professor at University Hospital in Muenster, Germany.
“This means that men can take steps to preserve or revive their reproductive health with lifestyle choices and appropriate medical interventions,” Zitzmann said. Researchers presented their findings July 12 at the Endocrine Society annual meeting in San Francisco.
Read more: Male Virility Affected By Minimal Rises In Blood Sugar
Doctors Who Use AI Perceived Less Favorably, Survey Suggests by Jennifer Henderson for MedPageToday.com, 17 July 2025.
Physicians who use artificial intelligence (AI) are perceived less favorably than those who don’t use it, a survey showed.
In a survey of 1,276 U.S. adults who were shown fake social media or billboard advertisements for family doctors, physicians portrayed to use AI were perceived as significantly less competent, trustworthy, and empathetic compared with those whose AI use was not mentioned, reported Moritz Reis, MSc, of the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, and colleagues.
Additionally, study participants reported being significantly less willing to make an appointment with a physician if any type of AI use was indicated, Reis and colleagues noted in JAMA Network Open. All of the findings held true regardless of whether the physicians were using AI for administrative, diagnostic, or therapeutic purposes.
Read more: Doctors Who Use AI Perceived Less Favorably
Psychologists introduce third path to ‘good life’—one full of curiosity and challenge by Karen Dooley for MedicalXPress.coom, 18 July 2025.
New research suggests that psychological richness—a life of perspective-changing experiences—may matter just as much as happiness or meaning.
For centuries, scholars and scientists have defined the “good life” in two distinct ways: as a life rooted in happiness, characterized by positive emotions, or as one centered on meaning, guided by purpose, and characterized by personal fulfillment. But what if there is another, equally valuable path—one that prioritizes challenge, change, and curiosity?
This third dimension, which may result in a more psychologically rich life for some, is being explored in a new study published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, led by University of Florida psychologist Erin Westgate, Ph.D., in collaboration with Shigehiro Oishi, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago. According to their research, some individuals prioritize variety, novelty, and intellectually stimulating experiences, even when these experiences are challenging, unpleasant, or lack clear meaning.
“This idea came from the question: Why do some people feel unfulfilled even when they have happy and meaningful lives?” Westgate said. “We found that what was missing was psychological richness—experiences that challenge you, change your perspective, and satisfy your curiosity.”
Westgate and Oishi’s research suggests that a psychologically rich life is distinct from those defined by happiness or a sense of meaning. While happiness focuses on feeling good, and meaning is about doing good, richness is about thinking deeply and perceiving the world in a different way.
According to Westgate and Oishi, psychological richness is defined as a life filled with diverse, perspective-changing experiences—whether these are external, such as traveling or undertaking new challenges, or internal, like absorbing influential books or pieces of music. “A psychologically rich life can come from something as simple as reading a great novel or hearing a haunting song,” Westgate said. “It doesn’t have to be about dramatic events, but it can shift the way you see the world.”
Read more: Psychologists introduce third path to ‘good life’—one full of curiosity and challenge
