One Small Step for the Artificial Pancreas, One Large Step for Medtronic

Yet another breakthrough in the battle against hypoglycemia and hypoglycemia unawareness! Medtronic, using a new sensor algorithm, has developed a “low-glucose suspend” (LGS) feature for its existing Paradigm insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system. The new technology automatically halts insulin delivery when your glucose falls below a preset threshold, reducing the risk of severe hypoglycemia. If your low alarm goes off and you don’t respond, the pump will automatically stop giving insulin for two hours, hopefully giving you time to treat your blood sugar without being pushed lower and lower by excess insulin.

This new technology has just finished a small initial test in the UK, and all reports are that Medtronic is going full steam ahead. All of us here at diaTribe are excited about this new development, as we think it represents an important step closer to an artificial pancreas. This technology could be the first example of a machine making automated treatment decisions for a patient, which is what closed-loop systems are all about. We are fairly confident that it will get FDA approval quickly. Our rationale? Since this feature involves suspending insulin delivery instead of giving insulin, it presents far less of a danger to people with diabetes than a malfunctioning closed-loop might. Even so, we can’t be certain of when this feature will become available in the US, but we would guess that it might be as early as 2010.