The New England Journal of Medicine has just published a paper on a JDRF-funded study showing how continuous glucose monitors impacted blood glucose control.
The study proved that CGM's resulted in better blood sugar control for people over 25. Hopefully this paper will be useful in supporting insurance claims for coverage of CGM devices. Maybe you'd like to send a copy(PDF) to your insurance company when you make a claim for CGM coverage.
I'm excited that this independent study of a relatively large number of people showed such good results. A few more like this, and it will be hard for companies to argue that CGM's are experimental devices. Dexcom summarized the paper like this:
Highlights of the study results include: -- Patients 25 years of age or older who used CGM showed significant improvement in glucose control as measured by HbA1c. -- Most importantly, this improvement in control was observed without an increase in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), which is a common concern in intensively managed patients trying to achieve improved glucose control. -- In all ages, patients who used CGM at least six days a week had substantially improved HbA1c levels.
In addition to successfully meeting statistical significance for the primary endpoint of absolute A1c reduction, the adult cohort in the study – patients 25 to 72 years old – also successfully met all secondary endpoints with statistical significance (including A1c of less than 7.0 percent, A1c of less than 7.0 percent with no severe hypoglycemia, greater than 10.0 percent relative reduction in A1c and greater than 0.5 percent absolute reduction in A1c).
Younger patient populations did not see a statistically significant reduction in A1c. However, patients in those study arms used the Personal CGM device less often than prescribed (50 percent of the time or less). All patients, regardless of their age, experienced A1c reductions when they used the device at least six days a week. The most compliant study arm – adults 25 to 72 years old – used the device more than 85 percent of the time and subsequently saw the greatest improvement in A1c. These findings expand upon the results of previous studies – like the Star 1 Study – demonstrating that more consistent use of Personal CGM results in more significant reductions in A1c.
Medtronic clearly sees a lot of revenue potential in future devices. According to Reuters, they are planning to spend 35% more this year on their next generation of diabetes devices. According to the article they want to make these
simpler to use and more effective in managing the disease
I do hope they also consider other design aspects like the fun factor and how they look. Ease of use is definitely important, but I'd also like a device package that doesn't necessarily look like another mobile phone. I'd also like to move away from the Henry Ford-like approach to diabetes devices. "You can have that in any color as long as it's black or blue".
As a long-time Minimed pump user, I moved to a Cozmo last year because I just didn't see any innovation in what Minimed were doing. The design of the sensor for their CGMS is just plain ugly and way too large.
Do you want proof? See klil's picture from the Diabetes 365 project. How did they manage to make something this big? Have they checked out what Dexcom managed to do?
Despite my cynicism, I think this commitment from Minimed is a good thing. They're the big dog of diabetes devices and if their additional spending produces innovative designs, it's a sure thing that competitors and start-up companies will take up the challenge.
While I'm talking about device design, I hope you've had a chance to see Amy's post about the recent DiabetesMine design contest.
We finally have a replacement wireless meter for the Minimed Paradigm insulin pumps. The new model is the OneTouch UltraLink meter.
It uses existing OneTouch Ultra test strips, with 5 seconds before you have a reading. The meter lets you flag readings as before or after meal so you can get these averages. It stores up to 500 readings and runs on 2 AAA batteries. For more details read the 90-page user's manual (PDF).
The meter is now being shipped with new Medtronic Paradigm insulin pumps. Those of you who already have a Paradigm pump will have to wait a little longer.
... we plan on sending U.S. customers who own a MiniMed Paradigm 512, 712, 515, or 715 insulin pump a OneTouch® UltraLink™ Meter at no charge later this year.
Minimed gives you a way to find out when you'll get your meter.
This meter is only available to US customers. Outside the US, the replacement meter will be from Bayer. Currently there's no word on the release date for the Bayer wireless meter.
If you have, or want to use, the OneTouch diabetes management software you'll need the latest version (2.3.2). You'll also need to download the newest meter driver to your PC so the UltraLink can be recognized.
According to a Medtronic press release, Medtronic and Bayer will work together to distribute a new blood glucose meter for Medtronic patients outside the US. Originally I missed the fact that within the US, Medtronic has made a similar agreement with LifeScan. Thanks Kevin and Amy for pointing this out.
The new meter for those in Canada and Europe will be based on the Bayer Contour and will transmit results to Minimed insulin pumps and the Guardian REAL-time CGMS.
The new US meter will be based on the OneTouch platform. I wonder whether they'll use a version of the more stylish OneTouch UltraMini, the Ultra2 or something completely new because of the need to include the circuitry for wireless transmission.
And once again, I hope that one or more of these three companies (Medtronic, Bayer, or LifeScan) will finally decide to work towards a standard format for representing diabetes data.
The Diabetes Technology Blog is focused on using technology to live life to the full with diabetes. I review new diabetes technology including: blood glucose monitors; continuous glucose monitors; blood sugar meters; diabetes software and living with diabetes.
About Me
Name: Bernard Farrell
Location: Massachusetts, United States
I was born in Ireland and now live in the US.
I have had Type 1 diabetes for over 36 years. I struggle with my blood sugar, the same as most people with diabetes.
I wear a Cozmo 1800 insulin pump and a Dexcom SEVEN Plus CGM to track my blood glucose levels.
I'm blessed by God, and every day brings the possibility of a cure.
It uses existing OneTouch Ultra test strips, with 5 seconds before you have a reading. The meter lets you flag readings as before or after meal so you can get these averages. It stores up to 500 readings and runs on 2 AAA batteries. For more details read the 90-page 
