JDRF, Animas & Dexcom Artificial Pancreas development Pact

[joan]

This is amazing and pretty depressing. It seems like it is all about money. What concerns me about the closed loop is that you need to eat when you are low. I would hope this device would prevent the lows then we could run the sugars lower. If it doesn't prevent lows then its no help to my son.

[Flutterby]

Originally Posted by sooz

Not to be argumentative, but I dont believe that JDRF is in the business of developing products to patent itself, are they? I dont think they need to be. They are investing in projects and research by others that will ultimately help my granddaughter. In the grand scheme of things $8 million is not that much money.

Of course the knowledge of how to do it does not exist now. If it did, they wouldnt have to work on it would they? Of course it wont work great at first. I bet the first pumps werent that great either. I truly dont understand the negativity about JDRF and its policies. They are there to help.

What might have happened if in the early 1900s someone said..well..we dont know how to develop insulin for diabetics so we arent going to do it and we arent going to spend the money on it because it just cant be done? Put anything you want into that sentence..kidney dialysis, x rays, chemo therapy, mri's, mammograms..someone had to develop the technology and spend the money..kidney dialysis is a good example because in the beginning it was so expensive and so big that only a few people could benefit from it, but as time went on and more work was done it is now much more available and affordable.

Whether we would choose to use the 'artificial pancreas' (I agree I hate that name) or not is a question. It took us a long time to choose the pump and we are not even using a CGM yet. But I am glad that the CGM is there for people who choose to use it, and I would be happy if there were an AP product too.

Its not that JDRF is helping to fund the project, interested in it or being a partner.. We've all benefitted from what JDRF does at one point or another. *MY* problem with what is going on is the fact that JDRF's old CEO is also the heir to the J&J fortune. J&J produces and owns huge amounts of diabetes supplies, including Animas (the also own CWD). The fact that JDRF, who's CEO most likely had a large influence, went with JUST the Animas and dexcom to produce this AP.. where J&J has the potential to earn loads of money off of it, in turn the heir (the old CEO of JDRF) would be making more millions and millions.. Why weren't these other companies, MM and omnipod, brought into this loop with JDRF? why? because their CEO was the heir to J&J.. simple as that and so so wrong!!

[BrokenPancreas]

JDRF is giving money to SmartInsulin.

[Flutterby]

Originally Posted by BrokenPancreas

JDRF is giving money to SmartInsulin.

And isn't their new CEo part of the company that is working on smart insulin?

[BrokenPancreas]

Originally Posted by Kaylee's Mommy

And isn't their new CEo part of the company that is working on smart insulin?

I honestly don't know?
I don't care if Mickey Mouse was working on it to be honest with you.
SmartInsulin can prove to be a major breakthrough

[Flutterby]

Originally Posted by BrokenPancreas

I honestly don't know?
I don't care if Mickey Mouse was working on it to be honest with you.
SmartInsulin can prove to be a major breakthrough

Its not the fact that someone is working on it.. I was looking for the connection between the CEO of JDRF and smartinsulin..

[Aaron Kowalski]

Hi. I'm Dr. Aaron Kowalski, the research director for JDRF's Artificial Pancreas Project. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Type 1 when I was 13 and one of my brothers also has Type 1 and was diagnosed when he was 3. I look at the Children With Diabetes website all the time, and wanted to make a few comments on the results of the poll that I saw about yesterday's announcement from JDRF and Animas that we are working together to develop a first-generation artificial pancreas.

More than a third of people said they don't support the project because it is not a real cure.

Well first of all, I would agree. To me and to most people I talk with, an artificial pancreas is not a cure. But we believe an artificial pancreas could provide a bridge to a cure. And, very importantly may help us get to a biological cure faster.

At JDRF, we fund a wide range of research, from immunity and regeneration and complications to artificial pancreas, hypoglycemia and glucose-responsive insulins. Our research focuses on every stage of diabetes - from how to cure it in adults, to stopping its progression in the newly diagnosed, to stemming complications and improving the lives of people living with it for years, to preventing it in people at risk. Some of those projects have a longer-term focus on cures, while others will have a shorter-term impact, keeping people healthy until a cure is found.

That?s where artificial pancreas systems come in. We've heard from people who have been living with type 1 diabetes, particularly adults who have had the disease for significant periods of time, that an artificial pancreas is the next best thing to a biological cure. The near-term impact on quality of life that even a partially automated artificial pancreas system can have is huge. This first generation system represents a major advance in how diabetes can be treated, and should result in significantly better and healthier lives for people with type 1 diabetes. It will lower their risk of complications until a cure is found. It will lower the risk of dangerous hypoglycemia until a cure is found. It will make dealing with diabetes day in and day out easier.

Could an artificial pancreas help achieve a biological cure faster? As a scientist here at JDRF, one interesting aspect of our artificial pancreas work is the mounting evidence that improving metabolic control (such as reducing the incredible amount of hyperglycemia a person experiences each day and reducing glycemic variability) may provide a much better 'environment' for a cellular approach to have the highest likelihood for success. We are looking at clinical trials that combine artificial pancreas technologies and islet transplantation and NIH is currently funding trials examining closed-loop control in new onset diabetes. The hypothesis in both cases is that reduced hyperglycemia will allow beta cells to have a better chance to survive.

An artificial pancreas in no way precludes us from continuing to focus on cures for diabetes and its complications. The majority of our research funding goes to what would be traditionally thought of as ?cures,? while other research we fund will have a shorter-term impact, keeping people healthy until a cure is found.

I feel everyone's passion and love the CWD community. We?re all striving for the same goals - to live healthy and happy with our diabetes and to walk away from diabetes as soon as possible. I hope that the realization of artificial pancreas technologies will help us achieve both goals!!

[BrokenPancreas]

Originally Posted by Aaron Kowalski

Hi. I?m Dr. Aaron Kowalski, the research director for JDRF?s Artificial Pancreas Project. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Type 1 when I was 13 and one of my brothers also has Type 1 and was diagnosed when he was 3. I look at the Children With Diabetes website all the time, and wanted to make a few comments on the results of the poll that I saw about yesterday?s announcement from JDRF and Animas that we are working together to develop a first-generation artificial pancreas.

More than a third of people said they don?t support the project because it is not a real cure.

Well first of all, I would agree. To me and to most people I talk with, an artificial pancreas is not a cure. But we believe an artificial pancreas could provide a bridge to a cure. And, very importantlymay help us get to a biological cure faster.

At JDRF, we fund a wide range of research, from immunity and regeneration and complications to artificial pancreas, hypoglycemia and glucose-responsive insulins. Our research focuses on every stage of diabetes ? from how to cure it in adults, to stopping its progression in the newly diagnosed, to stemming complications and improving the lives of people living with it for years, to preventing it in people at risk. Some of those projects have a longer-term focus on cures, while others will have a shorter-term impact, keeping people healthy until a cure is found.

That?s where artificial pancreas systems come in. We?ve heard from people who have been living with type 1 diabetes, particularly adults who have had the disease for significant periods of time, that an artificial pancreas is the next best thing to a biological cure. The near-term impact on quality of life that even a partially automated artificial pancreas system can have is huge. This first generation system represents a major advance in how diabetes can be treated, and should result in significantly better and healthier lives for people with type 1 diabetes. It will lower their risk of complications until a cure is found. It will lower the risk of dangerous hypoglycemia until a cure is found. It will make dealing with diabetes day in and day out easier.

Could an artificial pancreas help achieve a biological cure faster? As a scientist here at JDRF, one interesting aspect of our artificial pancreas work is the mounting evidence that improving metabolic control (such as reducing the incredible amount of hyperglycemia a person experiences each day and reducing glycemic variability) may provide a much better ?environment? for a cellular approach to have the highest likelihood for success. We are looking at clinical trials that combine artificial pancreas technologies and islet transplantation and NIH is currently funding trials examining closed-loop control in new onset diabetes. The hypothesis in both cases is that reduced hyperglycemia will allow beta cells to have a better chance to survive.

An artificial pancreas in no way precludes us from continuing to focus on cures for diabetes and its complications. The majority of our research funding goes to what would be traditionally thought of as ?cures,? while other research we fund will have a shorter-term impact, keeping people healthy until a cure is found.

I feel everyone?s passion and love the CWD community. We?re all striving for the same goals ? to live healthy and happy with our diabetes and to walk away from diabetes as soon as possible. I hope that the realization of artificial pancreas technologies will help us achieve both goals!!

Thank you for your post!
I have watched your video at least twenty times since yesterday.
Thank you again for all that you do!

Aaron, is four years really a possibility?

[Sarah Maddie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Aaron Kowalski

More than a third of people said they don?t support the project because it is not a real cure. In the concurrent thread the poll actually indicates that 95% of respondents do not see the AP as a "cure"

Well first of all, I would agree. To me and to most people I talk with, an artificial pancreas is not a cure. But we believe an artificial pancreas could provide a bridge to a cure. And, very importantlymay help us get to a biological cure faster. Could you elaborate on this? And does this indicate that perhaps JDRF CEO Alan Lewis was misquoted here, "Clearly, the cure represents different things to different people, and there?s probably no such thing as a single cure for all patients with type 1 diabetes. I also realize there?s always a danger in increasing the hope for something sooner that it actually will occur. Some people say that they realize that if they could maintain their blood sugar within normal range, they wouldn?t have to worry about hypoglycemic events and complications. That for them is a cure. Thus, I think in actuality a closed-loop artificial pancreas will be considered a cure for many of the people who I?ve described"



That?s where artificial pancreas systems come in. We?ve heard from people who have been living with type 1 diabetes, particularly adults who have had the disease for significant periods of time, that an artificial pancreas is the next best thing to a biological cure. The near-term impact on quality of life that even a partially automated artificial pancreas system can have is huge. This first generation system represents a major advance in how diabetes can be treated, and should result in significantly better and healthier lives for people with type 1 diabetes. It will lower their risk of complications until a cure is found. It will lower the risk of dangerous hypoglycemia until a cure is found. It will make dealing with diabetes day in and day out easier. As you may know from reading CWD forums a great many of us find that one device - perhaps a pump or maybe a CGM - is an acceptable imposition to our kids' bodies but it is a far smaller number who are comfortable with using both. If that is representative, and I suspect that CWD parents actually represent a minority of hyper-engaged D parents, of caregivers and people living with D then in truth, can this assumably cumbersome AP actually represent such a leap forward in glycemic variability so as to overcome the 2 device opposition?

Could an artificial pancreas help achieve a biological cure faster? As a scientist here at JDRF, one interesting aspect of our artificial pancreas work is the mounting evidence that improving metabolic control (such as reducing the incredible amount of hyperglycemia a person experiences each day and reducing glycemic variability) may provide a much better ?environment? for a cellular approach to have the highest likelihood for success. We are looking at clinical trials that combine artificial pancreas technologies and islet transplantation and NIH is currently funding trials examining closed-loop control in new onset diabetes. The hypothesis in both cases is that reduced hyperglycemia will allow beta cells to have a better chance to survive. Could you please tell us a bit more about this research and specifically, which potential cures are now viewed as reliant on existing metabolic control?

Thank you for your post and I hope we can continue this discussion.

Link to source for Lewis quote
http://www.curetype1.org/documents/i...ec2009%20-.pdf

[hawkeyegirl]

Dr. Kowalski, why specifically did JDRF choose to partner with Animas/Dexcom on this project? (Why not Omnipod/Dexcom, Omnipod/Navigator or Medtronic?)