Nope, these innovative designs for “all-in-one” diabetes devices (everything you need for both glucose testing and insulin injections in one package!) were NOT shown at the ADA Expo this past week. That’s because they don’t exist yet, except in the minds of some more of our űber-creative contestants in this year’s $10,000 DiabetesMine Design Challenge.
And I have to ask myself: isn’t there a market for something nice and compact like this? If OmniPod can win big by building a glucose meter right into its pump controller, why wouldn’t another company snap up the concept for a sleek glucose meter + injection device? Have a look at what some of our participants came up with:
The Multi
- it even includes a barcode scanner so you can “automatically” count carbs off food labels! -
Streamline
- it’s ergonomic, easy to use, and keeps records of doses and dosing times, too -
CheckMate 100
- you can test & inject in the dark, without a table, standing up you name it! -
Dear Insulin Pen Users:
Do these designs not look appealing? Enough to fight your insurance for? Or how much might you pay out-of-pocket for the all-in-one convenience? Just curious. Before I started pumping, I’d have given my right arm (figuratively speaking) for something like this.
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The closest thing being shown at the ADA Expo was in fact a product under development from Intuity Medical that calls itself the “OnQ All-in-One” — a new competitor to the Accu-Chek Compact Plus Meter. It actually is a bit more all-in-one than the Compact Plus because it doesn’t even require a separate lancing device; the lancet and strip technology is all contained inside. All you do is hold your finger up to the little red “target” spot, push a button, and your finger is pricked by a fresh needle ever time (they come in a drum).
No insulin component to it, but it still would be nice to do away with the fuss and muss of loose test strips — provided the lancing drums contain enough tests to last at least a whole day, and are affordable. This one won’t be on the market for a while yet either, so only time will tell.
We also need STANDARDS for data and such. I love that I can download my Dexcom data to the computer, but I can’t export it to Excel or XML? Come on guys none of you have the best solutions for all aspects, let someone else play too.
We hope that now all want to be involved in the medical system is improved, but not because they think the medical system is very much less come to trust that these events will reduce the cost and benefit millions of people throughout the country, and they say that things in findrxonline.com improved from 60% in recent weeks, hopefully this is the case ..
Brendan, check out this link for exporting TSV or XML from Dexcom.
http://comradedex.blogspot.com/2007/07/dexcom-seven-software-exporting-data.html
A few years ago there was a device called the InDuo which combined a one touch meter and a novolog pen. It was pretty nifty and I used it before starting with a pump. I believe they discontinued it due to a lack of demand. Go figure…
http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/d_0i_291.htm
Being a technology lover myself, it sounds great to me if we could have a single device that did everything we need.
The reality however, is that integration of technologies is quite hard, specially when produced by different companies. I’m not talking about the technical feasibility, but more about the business and political aspects of the process.
Isn’t it odd that after a few years of “working on it” we still have only one integrated pumpo with cgms? Coincidence, I don’t think so, but I hope the industry proves me wrong.
Great blog Amy, keep it up!
Henry.-
Author of D and The Guy
http://www.DandTheGuy.com
Melbourne, Australia
It is my firm belief that we do not need an “All-In-One” device, but an All-in-One SYSTEM. With wireless technology, finding the right devices that can all accurately and seamlessly communicate together would vastly improve the quality of all our lives. Although being able to carry but one device would be great, it limits our choices on individual components.
An “All-in-One” system would need to be an open platform for the same reason. No proprietary parts, all ‘off-the=shelf’ standards would allow for any device and help keep diabetic tools cost effective. Just my view….
Hey Amy, the One touch Ping also combines the pump controller and glucose meter into one device. Too bad the lancer and test strips are still separate! I developed a fancy connector to keep all 3 pieces together; it’s called a “rubber band”
@ G Miner – well of course! This post was meant to highlight glucose meter + injection devices for those not on pumps. If you want to go all the way, have a look at this year’s Design Challenge winner, the LifeCase + LifeApp system at
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/05/design-challenge-envisioning-the-iphone-as-a-diabetes-life-device.html
@ Todd: indeed! Rubber bands are the new paper clips, aren’t they?
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