In an online article published in January 2016 by Stacy Lawrence, it was reported that, ‘the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is financing what’s expected to be the largest long-term clinical study for an artificial pancreas (AP) to regulate the blood sugar levels in Type 1 diabetics to the tune of $12.7 million. This is the biggest chunk it’s yet doled out as part of a program the agency started in 2014 to promote testing of artificial pancreas systems and which has already backed at least three other research efforts.
The latest funding is going to TypeZero Technologies, which licensed the artificial pancreas prototype currently being called ‘inControl AP’ from the University of Virginia in 2013 and has since been testing and developing applications for it.
A 240-patient, 9-site U.S. and European 6-month trial is slated to start early this year and lead into a second trial in a subset of 180-patients that will be followed for an additional 6 months to further test the algorithm used. The first trial will compare the artificial pancreas to a control of a standard insulin pump to comparatively assess how well blood-sugar levels are controlled and whether the risk of hypoglycemia was reduced.
This news item first appeared in Desang Diabetes Magazine, our free-to-receive digital journal. We cover diabetes news, diabetes management equipment (diabetes kit) and news about food suitable for a diabetic diet. Go to the top of this page to sign up – we just need your email address.
