The GlucaPen, a big improvement on Glucagon shots
I had an interesting conversation last week with Dick Rylander of Enject. We spoke at some length about their product, the GlucaPen, that they hope to have on the market before long. It's a simpler way to give people Glucagon injections.Glucagon is a hormone that's produced in the pancreas. When it's released by the pancreas it causes the liver to take it's glycogen reserves and convert it into glucose. So it rapidly raises blood sugars levels. In emergencies, the glucagon reserve can be depleted by people who have type 1 diabetes (thanks for the correction from Mr. Sven below). It's a treatment for extremely low blood sugars where food or liquids can't be given. So it's really only used when there's an emergency.
The picture shows a glucagon kit from Eli Lilly. You may notice that the vial on the left contains a white powder. This must be combined with the liquid in the syringe just prior to use. Reconstituted glucagon has a shelf life of up to 48 hours when refrigerated.
So here's how it works. Your loved one is lying on the floor unconscious. You get the glucagon kit (you did put it in a well-known place, didn't you?). Before you can inject the glucagon into them, you need to follow about a half-dozen steps written on the enclosed leaflet. It's really difficult. One paper says the process "requires a manually dexterous operator who is composed, confident and competent in the whole procedure."
Let's look at the GlucaPen approach. Here's a picture of the GlucaPen prototype.
GlucaPen is looking for your opinions, they have a survey that includes a short video of the prototype being used. There's one survey to complete if you're an adult patient with diabetes, and a different one if you are a caregiver for someone with diabetes.
The GlucaPen folks have been developing this for about three years now and hope to have it on the market before too long. I think it's a great example of innovative design to make living with diabetes a bit easier. I'd love to hear any stories you have about using glucagon and whether something like this might make it easier.
Update: The GlucaPen has been entered in the DiabetesMine design contest, so there's now an animated video showing how it works. You can watch this below.
Labels: design, diabetes, glucagon, glucapen, innovative
posted by Bernard @ 9:21 PM
15 Comments:
Thanks for this! I posted it on the Children With Diabetes forum for other parents to look at!
Looks like a great product. I know Pete would have trouble with a half-dozen complex steps if I was passed out on the floor - or worse yet, seizing. I'm off to take the survey.
Bernard,
This is a great idea. Every time our daughter gets involved in a new activity, we have to go through the process of educating someone on how to use the Glucagon kit, and it's pretty intimidating. The simplicity of the pen approach, and the fact that many people are already familiar with the epi pen, makes this a total winner. Lilly ought to buy it because everyone will move this direction if it works.
Brent
Having an easier solution for glucagon would be FABULOUS. We've never had to use ours (knock on wood), but it is intimidating, especially considering the conditions under which we'd have to use it. Do you have a link for the caregiver survey?
Wow, that looks a lot less manacing than the glucagon kit.
3 to get ready, thanks for pointing this out. I've made the caregiver link more obvious in the post. Sorry about that. Here's the link in shortened form. http://is.gd/nTFW
Well I guess the cat's out of the bag on this new product... Enject was thinking of entering the Design Challenge:
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/03/severe-hypoglycemia-got-you-down-take-the-survey.html
I think it's a great idea, and I hope they do enter!
Thanks for posting about this Bernard! It looks GREAT!
-Kristin
i so cannot WAIT to get this pen....!
Enject is developing 2 versions of GlucaPen: "GlucaPen" will deliver 1 mg for adults, and "GlucaPen Jr" will deliver 0.5 mg for pediatric use.
Barring unforseen circumstances, the company plans to file for FDA approval in late 2010, with launch expected in 2011.
Enject is developing 2 versions of GlucaPen: "GlucaPen" will deliver 1 mg for adults, and "GlucaPen Jr" will deliver 0.5 mg for pediatric use.
Barring unforseen circumstances, the company plans to file for FDA approval in late 2010, with launch expected in 2011.
It looks brilliant. There must be some really smart people behind this.
I've been using Glucagon shots for a number of years and haven't really had any issue with them, but I'm all for anything that helps people out!
So excited! That is a HUGE improvement! The one time my loved ones had to use the glucagon kit (this was back in 1999) the instructions said it had a white powder but the powder in the actual vial was like a tablet- so they thought something dried up or it was old...before they could make a decision the paramedics arrived.
While we do now review the directions every time I have an endocrinologist visit (2x/year) -I am still not sure anyone could follow those directions with any accuracy under stress....
This new pen thing looks fabulous!
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Bernard, love your blog, have been reading for a while. I should just point out one thing, though. Type one diabetics DO produce glucagon. Have you ever let yourself get low and caught it too late and then had it shoot up right afterward even though you didn't eat a comparable amount for that high of a jump? This is your body's automatic glucagon response. Glucagon is produced in the alpha cells in the islets of Langerhans; insulin is produced in the beta cells. In type 1 diabetes the beta cells are selectively destroyed by your own immune system. (alpha cells are fine) So, you might ask, "Then why do we get low?" It's because we are injecting insulin. The insulin we inject is much less exact an amount than the body's own system. If you inject too much insulin then you will overpower the glucagon response that your body gives, because your body is underestimating the amount of insulin given (usually it is the one giving insulin and it would never give such a large amount at once, so the response is not set up this way) this is how it is possible for us to just keep going down and go into a coma, die, etc. The body gives a glugagon response, but perhaps not a large enough one. That's why you use the glucagon pen. But in general, if you didn't just inject insulin (or exercise intensely) and you accidentally let yourself go low you won't die, you'll just feel horrible while you get low and then suddenly go high from your glucagon response. Even if you didn't eat anything.
Sorry for the long post. I think this is part of the process that many diabetics don't fully understand, so I wanted to point it out.
Sven
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