Artificial Pancreas can Prevent the Development of Hypoglycemia

LONDON, June 18, 2010 - An article recently published in The Lancet reports that using an
artificial pancreas system overnight can significantly reduce the risk of
nocturnal hypoglycemia in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.(1)
Moreover, the first clinical trial of an artificial pancreas system
delivering both insulin and glucagon has shown that this system can prevent
development of hypoglycemia.(2) The latest issue of the journal Diabetic
Hypoglycemia (www.hypodiab.com) reviews advances in artificial
pancreas design and production in further detail.

Dr Roman Hovorka, a leading artificial pancreas researcher and author of
the Lancet paper(1) discusses developments in the field of closed-loop
insulin delivery and reviews system components and challenges to the
introduction of this technology into clinical practice, including the need
for superfast-acting insulin analogs, dual hormone approaches to accelerate
insulin absorption, and optimization of the clinical infrastructure to
support the use of closed-loop systems.

Professor Simon Heller's related editorial details how technological
developments supporting diabetes self-management have so far failed to lead
to major improvements in glycemic control or to consistently reduced rates of
severe hypoglycemia. He explains that one reason may be the requirement for
patients to estimate both basal and prandial insulin doses, which can be
demanding for many patients and may lead to ineffective diabetes
self-management. Professor Heller discusses how the introduction of
closed-loop systems might address this issue.

References

(1) Hovorka R, Allen JM, Elleri D, et al. Manual closed-loop
insulin delivery in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: a
phase 2 randomised crossover trial. The Lancet 2010:375(9716):743-51.

(2) El-Khatib FH, Russell SJ, Nathan DM, et al. A Bihormonal
Closed-Loop Artificial Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes. Sci Transl Med
2010:2(27):27ra27, published online 14 April 2010.

About Diabetic Hypoglycemia

Published by ESP Bioscience (Sandhurst, UK), Diabetic Hypoglycemia is an
influential online diabetes journal led by Editor-in-Chief Professor Brian
Frier (Edinburgh, UK), with Associate Editors: Professor Simon Heller
(Sheffield, UK), Professor Christopher Ryan (Pittsburgh, USA) and Dr Rory
McCrimmon (Dundee, UK). Published three times annually, Diabetic Hypoglycemia
provides an interactive forum for the sharing of practical knowledge and
opinions in the field of hypoglycemia.

To explore Diabetic Hypoglycemia, please take the guided tour:
www.hypodiab.com/Teaser/hypodiab.html.

Diabetic Hypoglycemia is published by ESP Bioscience, supported by an
unrestricted educational grant from Novo Nordisk A/S (Bagsvaerd, Denmark).

    Contact:

    Editorial Office
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Contact: Editorial Office, E: enquiries at hypodiab.com, T: +44(0)1344-762531, F: +44(0)203-0514753