Comments on: The Artificial Pancreas: A Hospital Clinical Trial http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/ A site dedicated to solving diabetes. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:12:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Scott King http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-3439 Scott King Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:19:38 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-3439 Actually, Hafez, we think that Islet Sheet will be profitable if it works as well as we hope. But the primary motive of the Hanuman Medical Foundation's project is to make the Islet Sheet clinically available. I agree with your reservations about the artificial pancreas, which I have detailed on this blog. There will not be agreement until we can compare blood sugar control between the Islet Sheet and the bioartificial pancreas. I hope the JD(R)F will want to support our research for that end. Actually, Hafez, we think that Islet Sheet will be profitable if it works as well as we hope. But the primary motive of the Hanuman Medical Foundation’s project is to make the Islet Sheet clinically available. I agree with your reservations about the artificial pancreas, which I have detailed on this blog. There will not be agreement until we can compare blood sugar control between the Islet Sheet and the bioartificial pancreas. I hope the JD(R)F will want to support our research for that end.

]]> By: Hafez Daraee http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-3410 Hafez Daraee Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:23:12 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-3410 My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 18 months old. I was told by may with significantly more Type 1 exposure that by the time he was 13, a cure would be found. He turned 13 in March; we don't have a cure. We found JDRF (then known as JDF) shortly after my son's diagnosis and were invigorated by their mission statement and their goal of "putting JDRF out of business by finding a cure." I was heavily involved in fund raising for them through our local chapter in Oregon and bought heavily into the various annual programs. But it was JDRF's shift from finding a cure to its on-going commitment to the artificial pancreas that finally made me walk away from this organization. The annual income generated by the companies whose business is diabetes related care is staggering. As long as there is "profit" in managing Type 1 diabetes, the companies that have the means and the money to find a cure will do all they can to NOT find a cure. This new direction -- the artificial pancreas -- is nothing more than the latest "shiny thing" that drug companies are using to distract the non-diabetic public and to quash the hopes of those of us who care for only one thing -- a cure! Easing the management of Type 1 is not a cure, no matter how easy ANY devise might make life for a Type 1 diabetic (my son included). Please don't be swayed by "new technologies" that are designed to make life easier. Believe me, I want my young son to have an easy life. I will gladly do all I can to make it so, but we need to be vocal and vigilant that finding a cure is the only answer. Unfortunately, there is no long-term profit in a cure. I wish no ill on any one and do not want life to be any more difficult for diabetic out there, but I truly hope the artificial pancreas fails. Only when we are all convinced that a machine cannot be a substitute for an organic cure will be return to the only path we should be on -- finding a cure for Type 1. My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 18 months old. I was told by may with significantly more Type 1 exposure that by the time he was 13, a cure would be found. He turned 13 in March; we don’t have a cure.

We found JDRF (then known as JDF) shortly after my son’s diagnosis and were invigorated by their mission statement and their goal of “putting JDRF out of business by finding a cure.” I was heavily involved in fund raising for them through our local chapter in Oregon and bought heavily into the various annual programs. But it was JDRF’s shift from finding a cure to its on-going commitment to the artificial pancreas that finally made me walk away from this organization.

The annual income generated by the companies whose business is diabetes related care is staggering. As long as there is “profit” in managing Type 1 diabetes, the companies that have the means and the money to find a cure will do all they can to NOT find a cure.

This new direction — the artificial pancreas — is nothing more than the latest “shiny thing” that drug companies are using to distract the non-diabetic public and to quash the hopes of those of us who care for only one thing — a cure! Easing the management of Type 1 is not a cure, no matter how easy ANY devise might make life for a Type 1 diabetic (my son included). Please don’t be swayed by “new technologies” that are designed to make life easier. Believe me, I want my young son to have an easy life. I will gladly do all I can to make it so, but we need to be vocal and vigilant that finding a cure is the only answer. Unfortunately, there is no long-term profit in a cure. I wish no ill on any one and do not want life to be any more difficult for diabetic out there, but I truly hope the artificial pancreas fails. Only when we are all convinced that a machine cannot be a substitute for an organic cure will be return to the only path we should be on — finding a cure for Type 1.

]]> By: Scott King http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-1888 Scott King Fri, 28 May 2010 17:58:03 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-1888 Hi Steve-- I have never thought about it is such global terms, but I agree. I once read that if the NIH had set out to cure polio it would have come up with a portable iron lung. I remember going on the "Biostator" a sort of primitive artificial pancreas, probably in 1979. My blood was pulled out through a cannula to get continuous blood sugar and a computer ran an insulin pump. After a couple of hours I was pulled off the machine and my blood sugar was uncontrollable for a day. Dr. Drexler (that's when I first met him) said that was typical of the Biostator. I'll take a cell therapy over any mechanical device. Hi Steve–
I have never thought about it is such global terms, but I agree. I once read that if the NIH had set out to cure polio it would have come up with a portable iron lung.
I remember going on the “Biostator” a sort of primitive artificial pancreas, probably in 1979. My blood was pulled out through a cannula to get continuous blood sugar and a computer ran an insulin pump. After a couple of hours I was pulled off the machine and my blood sugar was uncontrollable for a day. Dr. Drexler (that’s when I first met him) said that was typical of the Biostator.
I’ll take a cell therapy over any mechanical device.

]]> By: Steve http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-1879 Steve Fri, 28 May 2010 03:30:01 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-1879 When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1966, during my patient education classes at the Joslin's Clinic in Boston we were urged to tolerate the admittedly severe demands of strict glucose control because "in the next 5 years an artificial pancreas will be available to mimic the actions of a real pancreas, so you don't want any damage before then." Of course, we are still waiting. While I agree with all your concerns about the closed-loop pump, I would add one further consideration. Of all the devices which have ever come into therapeutic practice in the history of medicine, no artificial mechanism has ever performed well in imitating the natural, organic processes of the human body. The iron lung provided polio patients with a life which amounted to a living death, as does the modern hemodialysis machine, which gives its users in the United States a 23% death rate per year, perpetual exhaustion, and a host of medical complications, all in addition to the 20% of patients who eventually opt for death rather than continuing with the dialysis regimen. The results with the very different approach to replacing natural renal clearance of toxins with peritoneal dialysis are similarly dismal. The artificial heart of the early 1980s essentially tortured poor Barney Clark to death, and when the details of the kind of 'life' it offered him were revealed, there was a public scandal over the unethical nature of the experiment. All of this experience should teach us one thing -- that the solution to an organic problem must itself be organic if it is to succeed. When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1966, during my patient education classes at the Joslin’s Clinic in Boston we were urged to tolerate the admittedly severe demands of strict glucose control because “in the next 5 years an artificial pancreas will be available to mimic the actions of a real pancreas, so you don’t want any damage before then.” Of course, we are still waiting.

While I agree with all your concerns about the closed-loop pump, I would add one further consideration. Of all the devices which have ever come into therapeutic practice in the history of medicine, no artificial mechanism has ever performed well in imitating the natural, organic processes of the human body. The iron lung provided polio patients with a life which amounted to a living death, as does the modern hemodialysis machine, which gives its users in the United States a 23% death rate per year, perpetual exhaustion, and a host of medical complications, all in addition to the 20% of patients who eventually opt for death rather than continuing with the dialysis regimen. The results with the very different approach to replacing natural renal clearance of toxins with peritoneal dialysis are similarly dismal. The artificial heart of the early 1980s essentially tortured poor Barney Clark to death, and when the details of the kind of ‘life’ it offered him were revealed, there was a public scandal over the unethical nature of the experiment. All of this experience should teach us one thing — that the solution to an organic problem must itself be organic if it is to succeed.

]]> By: Scott King http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-1566 Scott King Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:32:44 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-1566 DZ- You are exactly right. But I am told by insulin people that the absorption is limited by how fast it gets into the blood from the fat depot, and significant improvement is not possible. Let's hope they find a way to make it faster. DZ-
You are exactly right. But I am told by insulin people that the absorption is limited by how fast it gets into the blood from the fat depot, and significant improvement is not possible. Let’s hope they find a way to make it faster.

]]> By: DZ http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-1563 DZ Thu, 29 Apr 2010 06:25:40 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-1563 I agree that there are steps that still need to be overcome and brought to market before an ideal true closed loop system can be achieved. Without glucose sensors that can detect current glucose in the blood system within a few minutes and tranfer that to the insulin pump, and then probably a faster acting insulin that reaches the blood quick, peaks within minutes and then dies out soon after, and of course a few more safety protocols added to the pump, I think a true closed loop insulin pump system would be possible. I agree that there are steps that still need to be overcome and brought to market before an ideal true closed loop system can be achieved. Without glucose sensors that can detect current glucose in the blood system within a few minutes and tranfer that to the insulin pump, and then probably a faster acting insulin that reaches the blood quick, peaks within minutes and then dies out soon after, and of course a few more safety protocols added to the pump, I think a true closed loop insulin pump system would be possible.

]]> By: JP Marat http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/2010/02/16/the-artificial-pancreas-a-hospital-clinical-trial/comment-page-1/#comment-969 JP Marat Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:25:40 +0000 http://www.solvingdiabetes.org/?p=783#comment-969 When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1966, during my patient education classes at the Joslin's Clinic in Boston we were urged to tolerate the admittedly severe demands of strict glucose control because "in the next 5 years an artificial pancreas will be available to mimic the actions of a real pancreas, so you don't want any damage before then." Of course, we are still waiting. While I agree with all your concerns about the closed-loop pump, I would add one further consideration. Of all the devices which have ever come into therapeutic practice in the history of medicine, no artificial mechanism has ever performed well in imitating the natural, organic processes of the human body. The iron lung provided polio patients with a life which amounted to a living death, as does the modern hemodialysis machine, which gives its users in the United States a 23% death rate per year, perpetual exhaustion, and a host of medical complications, all in addition to the 20% of patients who eventually opt for death rather than continuing with the dialysis regimen. The results with the very different approach to replacing natural renal clearance of toxins with peritoneal dialysis are similarly dismal. The artificial heart of the early 1980s essentially tortured poor Barney Clark to death, and when the details of the kind of 'life' it offered him were revealed, there was a public scandal over the unethical nature of the experiment. All of this experience should teach us one thing -- that the solution to an organic problem must itself be organic if it is to succeed. When I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1966, during my patient education classes at the Joslin’s Clinic in Boston we were urged to tolerate the admittedly severe demands of strict glucose control because “in the next 5 years an artificial pancreas will be available to mimic the actions of a real pancreas, so you don’t want any damage before then.” Of course, we are still waiting.

While I agree with all your concerns about the closed-loop pump, I would add one further consideration. Of all the devices which have ever come into therapeutic practice in the history of medicine, no artificial mechanism has ever performed well in imitating the natural, organic processes of the human body. The iron lung provided polio patients with a life which amounted to a living death, as does the modern hemodialysis machine, which gives its users in the United States a 23% death rate per year, perpetual exhaustion, and a host of medical complications, all in addition to the 20% of patients who eventually opt for death rather than continuing with the dialysis regimen. The results with the very different approach to replacing natural renal clearance of toxins with peritoneal dialysis are similarly dismal. The artificial heart of the early 1980s essentially tortured poor Barney Clark to death, and when the details of the kind of ‘life’ it offered him were revealed, there was a public scandal over the unethical nature of the experiment. All of this experience should teach us one thing — that the solution to an organic problem must itself be organic if it is to succeed.

]]>