Welcome to another “Where Are They Now?” update on a DiabetesMine Design Challenge entrant. This year, we received a paper entry on PicoSulin, a “revolutionary miniature insulin pump with direct Penfill Cartridge loading.”
I heard from the Geneva, Switzerland-based company last week that their website is now live, presenting in particular a new patch pump model 
(OmniPod competitor) they’re working on called the PicoPatch.
What’s unique about both products is their tiny size and the fact that no syringes or vials are ever needed. Both the PicoSulin “micropump” and the PicoPatch 
take standard insulin cartridges that fit into any insulin pen and are easily accessible around the world. Their products also use standard triple-A batteries rather than anything fancy that needs to be recharged or specially ordered.
In a long talk with co-founder Thierry Navarro yesterday, I learned some additional details about both of these ultra-mini insulin delivery devices under development. I’ll get to that in a moment. Most interesting of all, however, is the approach of Thierry and his 12-person team. This being the first direct-to-consumer product coming out of an otherwise strictly B2B company, they’re taking their design challenges direct to consumers as well:
“We think differently from the traditional way of keeping R&D secret. We have perfected our technology, and we’re disclosing the benefits. Now we want to try to get feedback from all the over world. We’re using a website survey to capture input from Europe, Asia and the US, ” Thierry says.
“We’re in open discussions with the big players manufacturing insulin pump technology, but that takes very long. We decided not to wait. We’d like to offer our products to consumers faster, either through a partner or in a direct model like OmniPod or Medingo (will). Our objective is to have the product most appealing for the patient — by gathering the most input from the community of patients.”
Now one might argue that the company, Swissinnov Product SARL, is just looking for some free advice. That’s certainly true on one level. But don’t forget the other side of the argument: haven’t we, the patient community, been bitching for years that vendors don’t ask us what we want? When was the last time a really big player like Medtronic or J&J Animas publicly disclosed what they were working on and asked how we’d like them to develop it?
Among the things the PicoSulin group are hoping to determine:
- the look and feel of the PDM, or controller unit, for their patch pump. It may be a “dedicated controller” like OmniPod’s, or something tied to a cell phone (“Our objective would be to have something you can run on any mobile device – you just need the software, and we have intelligence for that. It’s more of an FDA hurdle with that approach,” Thierry says.)
- how full-featured this pump should be. They’re already creating a Type 1 version including Temp Basals and Carb Conversions, etc., along with a simpler Type 2 version designed for a few set doses a day. But their initial survey feedback seems to be saying: “simplify, simplify, simplify.”
- whether the patch pump will be “fully detachable” or not. The advantage of using the penfill cartridge means that you won’t have to waste any insulin in case you do detach for a while, but the adhesive/cannula portion that’s mounted to your skin is currently not reusable; they’re trying to determine how important that is.
- how important “green” concerns are to US users. Apparently in Europe, having recyclable parts is already a consumer must.
- price point: would users be willing to pay for customer support on-demand if the costs of the system itself were significantly lower than other pumps? Since their disposable portion is an “adhesive bed” only, and doesn’t contain any batteries, the costs per replacement “patch” will be half the price of OmniPod’s, they tell me — so about $15 each. Great news for us! But the company also won’t reap as much profit here, to support all the necessary infrastructure. They believe that if their product is simple enough to use, people won’t need to call customer support nearly as often, but might be willing to pay for “strategic help” if and when it’s required.
In the end, they may end up selling the technology to a major vendor. They know that if they go it on their own, competing in the US pump market will be tough. It’s all still up in the air.
If you’re interested, you can visit their website, fill out the survey, and tell ‘em what you think. To be honest, it’s not the best-designed survey tool I’ve seen; it’s a little stiff and limits your answer choices too much. So another option, if you’re so inclined, would be to use their contact form to send ‘em more detailed feedback.
PRODUCT NOTES:
PicoSulin, What’s Unique -
* Direct loading with a pen fill cartridge of 3ml (300U) in ten seconds
* No more handling of insulin or filling needles
* Ultra-precise Dosing:
- A 20 times more precise pump (0.0025U)
Lowest bolus of all existing insulin pumps
- A basal rate of 20 times smaller (0.0025U/h)
Lowest basal of all existing insulin pumps
* A 50% smaller and 40% lighter pump than the Animas 2020
PicoPatch, What’s Unique -
* A 20% smaller patch than the OmniPod – wearable patch is only 0.59 inches (15 mm) thick
* Disposables cost half of OmniPod’s replacement pods
* Only one disposable plastic element,so more environmentally friendly
* Direct loading with a pen fill cartridge of 3ml (300U) in ten seconds:
- No more handling of insulin or filling needles
- No more insulin loss – when you change the patch, the insulin cartridge can be inserted back into the new patch.
I always thought there should be an insulin delivery system that used pen cartridges!
Using cartridges is brilliantly obvious. Very appealing. I appreciate that they are soliciting opinions. I hope its features are very customizable and ergonomically efficient.
Looks like we are going to see a big shake-out in the tubeless pump market over the next 5 years. Already we’ve got the excellent Omnipod with the Medingo Solo, CellNovo, and now PicoSulin on the horizon. Minimed is lurking somewhere along this timeline, too. At some point, Johnson & Johnson may buy out one of these companies. Lots to look forward to.
I thought that one of the reasons that you need to change the Omnipod every 3 days is because the insulin has been near your body (and hence warmer) so it wouldn’t be reliable for more time. With the new PicoSulin, if one didn’t use much insulin, that would mean that the cartridge would be near your body temp for quite a bit of time. Isn’t this a concern?
Very interesting design … it’s great to see companies gearing up for our next gen insulin delivery systems & asking for our input!
I filled out the survey and was surprised that quality and reliability were missing from the attributes that i was asked to prioritize. To me the most important objectives of an insulin delivery system are reliability and the ability to achieve consistent blood sugar levels.
Basal and bolus delivery methods are important non-physical design considerations (these are usually protected by patents), so i’d like to see how all of the devices compare on those.
I’d also be interested in the type of cannula inserted into our subq tissue. For pumpers, half the battle is finding the right infusion set. (For me, plastic cannulas crimp, so i’ve had to use a steel needle insert.)
Wow, that survey was very poorly constructed. It almost appeared to me as if they spent more effort deciding how to make the survey ‘cool’ than to have it provide useful information. That last page where you had to decide between “product price, or manufacturer’s brand name”… etc. was especially confusing and I couldn’t see what the point of it was. If you chose to skip a question it wouldn’t let you continue until you did. Bad bad survey design. Most people when faced with a question they don’t know the answer to, or would rather not answer, just pick something at random so they can get on with the survey. And that gives bad data.
For me it still looks big. I would love if somebody really worked on the size of the pump. 50% smaller would be a start! My son uses one cartriage per month. Maybe they could do something smaller for the little ones it soo big on them!
Very interesting post!Its always contains the enough insulin for several days. An infusion set carries insulin from the pump to the body through flexible plastic tubing and a soft tube or needle inserted under the skin.
Beth, the Omnipod has to be changed every three days because of battery life. My rep told me to keep my insulin at room temperature and not to try not to fill my pod with cold insulin.
I’m pretty “vain” and the idea of an even smaller tubeless design is great! It has to happen sometime…hope it’s sooner than later!
[...] Read the interview with more details at DiabetesMine… [...]
I think the designs of both units are very good, the idea of possibly using both devices (a pump for insulin / patch for symlin or glucagon, etc.) is very appealing. The idea of utilizing a mobile device via wireless communications is essential both for control and for transfer to a secure web site for review by both health care professionals and ourselves. We as diabetics are getting close to usable, affordable devices that can not only improve the quality of of lives, but reduce the long term medical costs of diabetes. PICOSULIN is part of the road map to achieve this goal……
What happened to this pump? These are very old posts and on the website it does n’t give much more info. WOuld be very interested in using it if more info avialbale (eg water resistance. Picture of swimming girl on site implicates so, but does not say anywhere)