In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic: 

• Stem cells Reverse T1D

• Microtech Linx CGM (a fail?)

• FDA Releases Clinical Hold on Biomea Fusion’s BMF-219 

• StartUp Health Podcast:  WiNK Therapeutics & Sensulin

• Heat/dust Increase Diabetes Hospitalizations

• Gina Pillina, T1D and Illustrator Extraordinaire!

Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first by Smriti Mallapaty for Nature.com, 26 September 2024. 

A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells. She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body. “I can eat sugar now,” said the woman, who lives in Tianjing, on a call with Nature. It has been more than a year since the transplant, and, she says, “I enjoy eating everything — especially hotpot.” The woman asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy.

James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says the results of the surgery are stunning. “They’ve completely reversed diabetes in the patient, who was requiring substantial amounts of insulin beforehand.”

The study, published in Cell today, follows results from a separate group in Shanghai, China, who reported in April that they had successfully transplanted insulin-producing islets into the liver of a 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes. The islets were also derived from reprogrammed stem cells taken from the man’s own body and he has since stopped taking insulin.

Microtech’s Linx. An Aidex sequel. by Tim Street for Diabettech.com, 28 September 2024.

Microtech has launched a new CGM. This is their follow-up to Aidex, and in its native market, the unit looks a lot like the Libre3. In fact, in the picture below, where it’s sitting next to a Libre2. Plus, it’s pretty much indistinguishable from the Abbott product.

According to various sources, for European launch, it will have a different shape, to avoid the obvious issues with Abbott trademarking a circular sensor.  “It’s not been possible to find any documentation that might be considered an accuracy study, so I have no idea about any claims related to Linx performance or MARD,” says Tim Street. “I’ve been running this sensor alongside the Libre2 Plus and a regular Dexcom G6. The results have been rather interesting.”

In the charts showing the time in range for the Dexcom, Libre and Linx over the ten days of the Dexcom:

• • • • The Linx suggests I spent 25% of my time below 3.9mmol/l/70mg/dl. It is wholly incorrect.  
      • The Libre2+ didn’t do much better.  
      • The Dexcom is pretty much on point.  

The issue that this presents is that in a clinical setting, it would drive considerable anxiety and potentially result in changes to treatment that were incorrect and unnecessary. It can be seen in the images below which show the three sensors side by side. The Linx recorded lows, the Libre recorded just about okay, and the Dexcom flatter and higher.  This was not a good outcome for the Linx. But it wasn’t just on the low side. After calibration, it then overshot on the high side. 

Due to trademark infringement risk, Microtech will be producing something that’s a different shape to the Chinese and International product for Europe.  “I’m told there are also differences between the Chinese product and the currently shipped international one as well, but have no idea what those are.  But would I buy the European product and trust it for dosing? Not at this stage. I’d want to see how it performs alongside other products first.”

Read more: Microtech’s Linx. An Aidex sequel.

FDA lifts clinical hold on two trials assessing covalent menin inhibitor for diabetes by Erik Swain for Healo.com/endocrinology, 27 September 2024.

On June 6, the FDA announced a clinical hold on the COVALENT-111 and COVALENT-112 investigating BMF-219 (Biomea Fusion), a covalent menin inhibitor, for the treatment of diabetes. According to a press release from Biomea Fusion, the hold was instituted due to potential drug-induced hepatotoxicity during the dose escalation phase of the COVALENT-111 study. 

On Sept. 26, Thomas Butler, CEO and chairman of the board for Biomea Fusion, said the FDA lifted its hold as the safety signals in the dose escalation phase of the study were not observed during the phase 2b expansion portion of the trial.  “Most importantly, none of the elevated lab values translated to confirmed serious liver injury or liver impairment,” Butler said in a press release. “We look forward to continuing our robust development plan for BMF-219 following full resumption of our ongoing studies, COVALENT-111 and COVALENT-112.”

Read more: FDA lifts clinical hold on trials on covalent menin inhibitor

T1D Therapeutics: Two Health Transformers Tackle Type 1 Diabetes at the Source from StartUp-Health-Now.blubrry.net, 6 September 2024.

StartUp Health NOW shares a groundbreaking episode exploring the latest advancements in Type 1 diabetes research, looking into their  T1D Moonshot Community dedicated to improving the detection, management, and treatment of the disease, and uncovering promising developments on the therapeutic front.  Hear from leading innovators:

• • • Warren Marcus, PhD, CEO & Founder of WiNK Therapeutics, shares insights on his mission to cure Type 1 diabetes using the body’s own beta islet cells.
    • Mike Moradi, CEO & Co-founder of Sensulin, discusses the creation of a glucose-responsive insulin for personalized diabetes management.

Listen to the Podcast:  Two Health Transformers Tackle Type 1 Diabetes

Hot and dusty days increase diabetes hospitalization by Carly Stearnbourne for Harvard.edu/gazette, 23 September 2024.

Heat and particulate air pollution may increase the risk of diabetes-related hospitalizations, according to a recent paper published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. The study, co-authored by Barrak Alahmad, a research fellow at the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is one of the first to look at the effects of multiple environmental exposures on the disease and could have many implications for future research.

Alahmad said that while the direct relevance of the study is for places that are hot and dusty, “Kuwait opens a window to a potential future because we know that temperatures are increasing and the droughts are making dust storms more frequent in other parts of the world.”  As wildfires continue to be an issue in the western United States, Alahmad also sees parallels between those desert conditions and the smoke pollution that affected many people in the U.S. this summer. This research underlines how multiple environmental exposures occurring simultaneously, like wildfire smoke and hot days, can hurt health.

Read more: Hot and dusty days increase diabetes hospitalization

For FUN!  Meet Gina Anzures (known as Gina Pillina), a Mexican illustrator and comic artist!

Gina Anzures, artistically known as Gina Pillina, loves to tell entertaining and funny stories through charming characters and colorful palettes. Her character designs have simple shapes but are still dynamic and expressive. Gina draws comic strips as well, in which she informs in a humorous way about type one diabetes with her cute character Gina Pillina. Diabetes is a common topic in her works of art, since she lives with diabetes herself, she is spreading awareness and bringing support in a funny way. Humor helps information to stay longer in the mind, making it a great learning tool.

Gina finished her Master in Fine Arts in Illustration at SCAD, Atlanta. She did her bachelor’s degree in graphic design at Universidad Anáhuac Puebla and completed a master’s degree in 3D animation at Coco School, Spain. Her work has been awarded by the famous Mexican contest a! Diseño, and Ascencia Diabetes Care. She is currently teaching illustration and design classes in undergrad levels at UDLAP, IBERO, and Anáhuac Puebla.

Gina’s illustrations are fun and evoke happiness, they put a big smile on her audience. Let’s work and share a laugh together!

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