Medtronic’s hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system approved by FDA

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Medtonic’s MiniMed 670G hybrid closed-loop system to regulate basal insulin levels for people aged ≥14 years with type 1 diabetes.

The device consists of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that measures the user’s glucose levels for up to 7 days, an insulin pump and a glucose meter used to calibrate the CGM. It is able to decrease or stop insulin delivery when it detects the user’s blood glucose is low, or increase the delivery when high, with no input from the user.

Although often described as such, the system falls short of being the world’s first approved “artificial pancreas”, as only basal insulin rates are controlled and users are still required to calculate and administer meal-time insulin boluses. Nonetheless, the manufacturer can count it as another step closer towards a fully automated closed-loop system.

Contour® Next One SMBG system launched in UK
Ascensia Diabetes Care has announced that its Contour® Next One blood glucose monitoring system is now available in the UK, having received CE Mark approval in May.

The device integrates a wireless-enabled smart meter and a smartphone app through Bluetooth technology, so that users can capture their blood glucose results more easily.

The app collects, stores and analyses blood glucose results from the meter, with the aim of improving the user’s understanding of their diabetes by providing information on how their daily activities affect their readings.

Users can also share their results and blood glucose patterns with healthcare professionals via the app.

Leicester Risk Score translated
The Leicester Self-Assessment Risk Score, developed by the University of Leicester and Diabetes UK to allow people to calculate their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, has been translated into two South Asian languages – Gujarati and Bangladeshi.

It is hoped that projects like this will overcome language and cultural barriers in South Asian communities, who are at greater risk of type 2 diabetes, and improve health inequalities, given that the risk score is now widely implemented in English-speaking populations.

Punjabi and Urdu versions are also due to be published soon. Interested parties can request print versions of the translated versions free of charge by filling in the form at: http://leicesterdiabetescentre.org.uk/testing

NICE recommends dapagliflozin in triple therapy for type 2 diabetes
NICE has published final guidance recommending dapagliflozin for treating type 2 diabetes in triple therapy. Dapagliflozin can be added as a third drug where two antidiabetes drugs are not controlling a person’s blood glucose.

Dapagliflozin in a triple therapy regimen is recommended as an option for treating type 2 diabetes in adults, only in combination with metformin and a sulfonylurea.

This final guidance means that dapagliflozin joins the two other drugs in its class, empagliflozin and canagliflozin, as NICE-recommended options for triple therapy. All three drugs are already recommended for use as monotherapy if a person cannot use metformin or other specific drugs, and in combination with metformin as dual therapy.

Tresiba® backed for use on NHS Wales
The All Wales Medicines Strategy Group has issued guidance endorsing Novo Nordisk’s ultra-long-acting basal insulin, Tresiba® (insulin degludec), to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, when treatment with a basal insulin analogue is considered appropriate.

Clinical trials comparing Tresiba to other (ultra-)long-acting insulins, glargine and detemir, showed that the former achieved equivalent reductions in HbA_1c and was also associated with a significantly lower risk of nocturnal hypoglycaemia (a 25% reduction in people with type 1 diabetes and a 36% reduction in insulin-naïve people with type 2 diabetes).

Tresiba is available in 100 unit/mL and 200 unit/mL formulations. The guidance does not recommend its use in children or adolescents.