Comments on: Spotted, at ADA: Diabetes Products of Note

By: Alana

Alana — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:19:11 +0000

Re the in2it A1c onsite device – my kid’s endo has a finger-stick A1c machine in their (on-site) lab and it gives results in 90 seconds vs 1 week with LabCorp and Quest. Our endos are with CHOP in Philadelphia but we go to a “branch” office and the machine is expensive but small. My insurance requires that we go to LabCorp (or the hospital lab), but I finally got them to agree that the finger-stick A1c should be covered at the dr lab. I called LabCorps national hq to see if ANY of their sites had the finger-stick A1c capabilities and was told no. In fact, they couldn’t believe I would want (for my son) the fingerstick instead of an arm draw FOUR times a year…. Funny what people think. They asked if my son was an infant; I guess the thinking is that it is acceptable to not want an arm draw for an infant, but for a 12 year old, it is perfectly normal to WANT the pain of an arm draw? I told them it was all about compliance – figured that would get their attention. If he fears the arm draw now, will he submit to it later when I can’t cajol him into compliance? Every endo (and GP) should have an A1c machine onsite.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:33:21 +0000

Forgot the website in case you need more information:
http://diamyd.blogspot.com

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:32:20 +0000

Hi, Im the author of the Diamyd Blog. Regarding your comments on Diamyd “Vaccine”. I think you should get excited.

This is a drug which may work, with no side effects. Treatment is very simple, a few injections (3-4).

Lets hope the Phase III trials gives us more information. They are starting req now.

Rgrds

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:20:55 +0000

Totally love the idea of OnQ! It’s about time someone did this. I hate having to unzip my kit and assemble everything. It looks a little like my iPod. Please hurry up and bring this to the market!

By: Mason

Mason — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:28:05 +0000

A little word about the disposable strips. The reason that they need to be disposable, at least with the current state of technology, is that each strip has some chemicals. When those chemicals react with the glucose in the blood, a reaction happens and an electric signal is created. That reaction can only happen once on each strip. And the blood fills the pocket on the strip. So currently, we’re stuck (so to speak) with that middleman.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:41:45 +0000

Brian, many infants and small kids use pumps now, and many more each day are using CGM’s. So that isn’t really new. In fact, MOST parents find rather quickly that pumping is the best way to deal with the erratic eating that goes along with the youngest kids. I dare say, it’s becoming uncommon to see kids without pumps.

By: vicki abbott

vicki abbott — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:18:16 +0000

What would really be wonderful would be a device like the OnQ that DIDN’T use test strips – thereby saving diabetics lots and lots of $$. You know — it pokes you and you get the reading. No middleman strip. Why isn’t this possible??

By: Andy Rozman

Andy Rozman — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:40:57 +0000

Hi !
This OnQ, looks too big for my taste… I like small things… Roche has something similar than OnQ I think… Accu-Chek Compact…

As for Bayer lancette thing… I used something similar and I must say my fingers still hurt from it… I disocvered Softclix, this one is also from Roche… It doesn’t hurt that much… It’s been rumored to have smallest needles so far. I would advise this for kids… After using it for 2 weeks, my fingers feel much better now, after “abuse” from my previous lancette thing…

Andy

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:27:48 +0000

I am involved in a rituximab (anti CD20) study of newly diagnosed type 1s and I would be very cautiously optimistic, if at all, about these therapies. First, by the time symptoms appear, beta cells are 90% or more destroyed. These studies in their current incarnations aim at preserving the scraps of what’s left by down-regulating antibodies to islet cells. Second, these drugs are immune modulators. Rituximab depletes the antibody-forming populations of B cells, at the expense of prior and future immunities. Antibodies are the way the immune system remembers foreign invaders and even cancer cells.

Downregulating T cells is even more dangerous. Many transplant drugs diminish T cell populations. “Arresting the autoimmune process” means arresting an entire arm of the immune system. This is not without its price. I’ll be interested to read the results of these studies and see if their findings are robust — if the experimental group’s C peptide levels increase or stay the same. Until then I wouldn’t get excited.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:49:55 +0000

As is often the case with new diabetes products, that CGM wall monitor for keeping tabs on your kid is simultaneously incredibly awesome and deeply sad. But CGM and a pump on a baby? I imagine that’s cumbersome sure, but what an amazing advancement for treating those who cannot treat themselves.