In the News.. T1D increasing in older adults, new iCGM designation, low BG prevention tested, and more!

It's In the News! A look at the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now. Top stories this week: more older adults are being diagnosed with type 1 and people with T1D are living longer, Eversense gets iCGM designation, new drug to prevent low BG is being tested, Tandem diabetes app recall, and more!

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Episode transcription with links:

Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I'm Stacey Simms and every other Friday I bring you a short episode with the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now.

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In the news is brought to you by Edgepark simplify your diabetes journey with Edgepark

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Type 1 diabetes is increasingly affecting older adults in the US, with prevalence rates peaking in those aged 45 to 64, according to recent research published in JAMA.1

The life expectancy for people with T1D has increased over the last 15 years, which has led to increased prevalence among older adults.2 The CDC currently estimates that approximately 1.8 million people in the US have T1D.3

The study utilized data from the 2019 to 2022 cycles of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), representative of the noninstitutionalized US population. The study included over 141,000 participants (110,283 adults and 30,708 youths).

The increasing prevalence of T1D in older adults suggests that further research is needed to develop treatment guidelines that include strategies to optimize treatment in older adults living with T1D. Current clinical practices often extrapolate from data on younger populations or those with type 2 diabetes, which may not be entirely appropriate for older adults with specific needs in terms of cardiovascular and glycemic management.

https://www.ajmc.com/view/t1d-prevalence-rising-among-us-adults-study-finds

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Pancreatic cancer research may have implications for diabetes. These reserachres were looking at an enzyme called focal adhesion kinase (FAK). During the trials, quote - "The pancreas looked weird, almost like it was trying to regenerate after an injury," Even weirder, a cluster of cells in the pancreas were expressing both insulin and amylase. In normal mice and humans, the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin is produced by beta cells, while amylase, a digestive enzyme, is manufactured by different cells. The functions of acinar and beta-cells are very distinct, so it didn't make sense that the cluster of cells looked like a combination of the two.

Esni and his team had in fact stumbled upon this holy grail. In a new Nature Communications paper, the researchers show that a FAK-inhibiting drug, which has been studied in cancer treatment, converted acinar cells into acinar-derived insulin-producing (ADIP) cells and helped regulate blood glucose in diabetic mice and a single non-human primate.

The findings suggest that FAK inhibitors could be a new avenue as a replacement for insulin therapy in diabetic patients.

With the eventual hope of launching a clinical trial to test FAK inhibitor in diabetes patients, Esni and his team are now planning long-term experiments in mice to look at the duration of hyperglycemia control after a single course of the drug in mouse models for type 1 or type 2 diabetes. They're also investigating the effects of FAK inhibition in pancreatic tissues from human donors.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-repurposed-cancer-drug-diabetes-nudging.html

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A report published today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and T1International shows astonishing markups by pharmaceutical corporations on insulin injection pens and newer diabetes medicines.

Currently, only half of all the people in the world who need insulin have access to it.

Doctors without borders is among the few humanitarian groups currently procuring insulin pens.

Based on MSF's research of the cost of production, long-acting insulin pens, which are the standard of care in high-income countries, could be sold at profit for as low as $111 per patient per year, which includes insulin and the device needed to inject it. This is 30 percent less than human insulin in a vial with syringes, which have always been thought to be the most affordable option

The US must do more to ensure equitable access to diabetes drugs worldwide

"While the announcement of a recent US Senate investigation into Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 drug prices is an important step, the US government must do more to ensure equitable access to diabetes drugs worldwide,"

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/diabetes-only-half-people-who-need-insulin-world-have-access-it

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The U.S. FDA on Wednesday warned about a software glitch found in the Tandem Diabetes' t:slim X2 insulin pump, classifying the issue as a Class I recall, the agency's most serious type of recall. HOWEVER.. this happened in March and Tandem says it's been resolved. Here's what happened..

The error was found in the Apple iOS-based software version of the t:connect mobile app used for the t:slim X2 insulin pump with Control-IQ technology.

The defect causes the app to crash down and relaunch repeatedly, leading to excessive Bluetooth communication, which in turn drains the pump battery and leads to an unexpected pump shutdown.

More than 85K t:slim X2 insulin pumps distributed in the U.S. between February 12 and March 13 have been affected by the issue, which the FDA has categorized as a correction.

Tandem Diabetes (TNDM) sent a letter to affected customers in March requesting them to update the app.

After a discussion with the management, Citi said that 98% of users have updated their apps to version 2.7.1, released on March 13. The company has not seen any issues with the latest app version and expects the update to permanently fix the defect. Citi retains its Neutral rating on the stock.

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HIGH POINT, N.C., March 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- vTv Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: VTVT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of cadisegliatin (TTP399) as an adjunctive therapy to insulin for the treatment of type 1 diabetes ("T1D"), today announced the submission of the study protocol to the FDA for the Company's first Phase 3 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of its lead candidate, cadisegliatin, in adults diagnosed with T1D.

The Phase 3 study will assess two doses of orally administered cadisegliatin versus placebo in patients currently being treated with multiple daily insulin injections and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion, who use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). The primary efficacy endpoint of the study will compare the incidence of Level 2 or Level 3 hypoglycemic events between cadisegliatin-treated subjects and those in the placebo group.

It received a breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) based on its Phase II trial (NCT03335371), which showed a 40% decrease in the frequency of severe and symptomatic hypoglycaemic events along with a decrease in serum and urine ketone events in the treatment group.

Cadisegliatin is not yet licensed or approved anywhere globally and has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use. Cadisegliatin (TTP399) is an investigational liver-selective glucokinase activator that has been studied in healthy volunteers and in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

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Timing is everything.. the same day we released our episode about the Eversense CGM last week, Senseonics, in collaboration with Ascensia Diabetes Care, has announced that its Eversense product received an integrated continuous glucose monitoring (iCGM) designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This marks Eversense as the first fully implantable device to achieve such status, paving the way for future devices of its kind through the FDA's De Novo pathway.

The iCGM designation signifies that the system can be integrated with compatible medical devices, such as insulin pumps, to create an automated insulin delivery (AID) system.

https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/news/senseonics-eversense-icgm-designation-fda/

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Commercial

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A big win for Georgians with Medicaid who have #diabetes. Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a bill that expands #CGM access to persons with Medicaid and diabetes who are insulin therapy and removes the age limitation and endocrinology requirement. Please see ADA press release below. Please share.

https://lnkd.in/g_WVTNpi American Diabetes Association

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61-year-old ultrarunner Linda Carrier is the first woman to complete the World Marathon Challenge (seven marathons on seven continents in seven days) three times.

Plus, she has run 78 marathons and 55 half-marathons and is currently in the process of running a marathon in all 50 states with just 12 to go.

To add to the wow factor, Carrier has accomplished it all while managing type 1 diabetes for nearly 50 years.

"I naturally like to challenge myself, and when someone says [you have] a life-shortening disease, I'm like, heck it's not. I'm going to show them that I'll be the longest-living type 1 diabetic," Carrier told Healthline.

She was 14 years old when she learned she had the condition. Because her older sister had been diagnosed a few years before, Carrier was familiar with the symptoms. She also knew the outlook was daunting.

She will finish her latest goal of running a marathon in all 50 states next October in Twin Cities, Minnesota. The race will be sponsored by Medtronic.

"Seems like the perfect way to finish," Carrier said. "And to show that type 1 diabetes should not stop you from reaching any of your goals, whatever it might be."

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/linda-carrier-diabetes-marathon

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