A true artificial pancreas (AP) is a closed-loop insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system. And the buzz is that “we are very close!”
Here’s a great update by Melissa Lee, blogger of ASweetLife.org on the race toward an AP. She discusses the major pump players (Medtronic, Tandem and Insulet, with no mention of Animas or Roche).
Then she reviews the top AP contenders, at the moment:
The Bionic Pancreas Team, working on their “iLet”,led by Ed Damiano out of Boston University. They are currently completing early trials in 2016 and 2017.
TypeZero Technologies out of the University of Virginia, will be in testing in several clinical studies in 2016.
Bigfoot Biomedical, who purchased the Asante pump platform, is currently scheduling clinical trials in 2016 and 2017 as well. Their founders include Bryan Mazlish, for JDRF CEO Jeffrey Brewer, former Medtronic Chief Engineer Lane Desborough and former WellDoc CFO Jon Brilliant, all of whom have children with T1.
Read more from Melissa, who just started working with Bigfoot Biomedical last week, joining her husband at the company: http://tinyurl.com/jctva88
Here’s the buzz about Bigfoot Biomedical …
In early January, Bigfoot Biomedical disclosed some product details and timeline information on their automated insulin delivery system or artificial pancreas (AP). In addition to using the Asante pump and the Dexcom CGM, they plan to use a smartphone interface as the only means of interfacing with the pump. That’s right, no buttons to press or screens to read on the pump. They plan to conduct a major study in 2017, hoping to launch in 2018.
They expect to charge a monthly subscription for the Bigfoot system which may be more convenient and cost effective for both patients and insurers.
They may also release some interim products over the next 2 years, without insulin automation, which will acclimate their patients to access via their smartphones.
Read more on DiaTribe.org: http://tinyurl.com/zhjmufs
So who is Bigfoot? Read about them in an interview with DiaTribe.org: http://tinyurl.com/zy7fywb
