Last week the US-based Food and Drug Administration gave approval for the key testing phase of an artificial pancreas which has been developed by researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA).
This could be a positive development for the millions of patients with Type 1 diabetes if the artificial pancreas - which has so far only been tested on a small group of patients - proves to be effective.
Led by Patrick Keith-Hynes, PhD, and Boris Kovatchev, PhD, from the UVA School of Medicine, the team developed a device which was based on a reconfigured smart phone. Any diabetic knows what a challenge it can be to always get your insulin levels and blood glucose right; the artificial pancreas could help provide a solution for this by automatically monitoring glucose levels and providing insulin as needed.
Researchers tested the artificial pancreas on inpatients at UVA and in Europe; the pancreas was tested on outpatients in Spain in 2011 and shows promising results.
It is hoped that trials on outpatients in the States will begin within the next six weeks.
Dr. Kovatchev said:
“Conducting the first U.S. tests of a portable artificial pancreas running on a cell phone in a real-world setting is an important step toward evaluating its effectiveness and how it may impact treatment for Type 1 diabetes patients in the United States.”
This could be a positive development for the millions of patients with Type 1 diabetes if the artificial pancreas - which has so far only been tested on a small group of patients - proves to be effective.
Led by Patrick Keith-Hynes, PhD, and Boris Kovatchev, PhD, from the UVA School of Medicine, the team developed a device which was based on a reconfigured smart phone. Any diabetic knows what a challenge it can be to always get your insulin levels and blood glucose right; the artificial pancreas could help provide a solution for this by automatically monitoring glucose levels and providing insulin as needed.
Researchers tested the artificial pancreas on inpatients at UVA and in Europe; the pancreas was tested on outpatients in Spain in 2011 and shows promising results.
It is hoped that trials on outpatients in the States will begin within the next six weeks.
Dr. Kovatchev said:
“Conducting the first U.S. tests of a portable artificial pancreas running on a cell phone in a real-world setting is an important step toward evaluating its effectiveness and how it may impact treatment for Type 1 diabetes patients in the United States.”
No comments:
Post a Comment