iCo Therapeutics and JDRF Team Up

iCo Therapeutics and JDRF Team Up

to Support Phase II Clinical Trial iDEAL for Diabetic Macular Edema 

--Trial that aims to address the leading cause of blindness

in people with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes being led by Johns Hopkins investigators--

iDEAL Phase II Study Update

March 28, 2012, Vancouver, Canada—iCo Therapeutics (TSX-V: ICO), a Vancouver-based drug reprofiling company and JDRF, the largest charitable funder of type 1 Diabetes (T1D) research have joined forces to investigate a potential new treatment for one of the most common complications of diabetes, diabetic macular edema (DME).  The iDEAL study is a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate whether the drug iCo-007 could help to treat DME in people with either T1D or type 2 diabetes.  The study is being conducted at the Wilmer Eye Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  

bit.ly/HnGkde via jdrf

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Ghostbusters if you have a free floating apparition.

But if you are in the media and are writing about diabetes where are you going to get an informed patient voice?

Diabetes Advocates Offer Assistance in Accurate Reporting in the Media
27 Mar, 2012 17:00 CET
”We want to help get it right,” states diabetes advocacy groupTuesday, March 27, 2012 (BERKELEY, CA) – Did you know there are more than five different types of diabetes? If your knowledge of diabetes is defined by what you hear and see on the news or in movies then you probably don't. Diabetes Advocates, a nonprofit program made up of influential members of the diabetes community has launched a media outreach campaign, designed to assist the media on all things diabetes.  

Kelly Kunik, a member of Diabetes Advocates, stated: “Today is Diabetes Alert Day in the US and we are trying to stress to all media sources that more due diligence is required on everyone’s part when reporting on diabetes. We want to help all sources ‘get it right’ but also stress the importance of explaining the differences among ‘all things’ diabetes.” 

See full press release here: http://www.cisionwire.com/diabetes-advocates-a-program-of-the-diabetes-hands-foundation/r/diabetes-advocates-offer-assistance-in-accurate-reporting-in-the-media,c9236817

Do You Do It?

Download?

I have been to a few diabetes events where a point was made that few folks download there stuff* (* a word that hear means; meter, pumps, CMG, food log, workout schedule and a partridge in a pear tree.) Why is that?

Now that may come as surprise to folks who have read my bits on diabetes technology, DEWY and the data frontier that while I value data, we don't download. So forgive a little Sheldonesque nerdieness and let me suggest that there are reasons we don’t boldly go where no one has gone before.

In our case it is too much of a PITA - pain in the Apple. We use Macs. A program is not Mac compatible if it requires me to run windows on my Mac or even an old version of Mac OS. For that matter a program isn’t PC compatible if it can’t run on the current version of Windows either. All of which is totally irrelevant because the stuff may not be best downloaded into a Mac or Windows computer anyway. Possibly the target device device should be more, dare I say it, in touch with our lives - portable across all the devices we use. It should probably be in the cloud and accessible with any computer or phone with current browser.

I realize that may give a lot of cardiac physicians patients at FDA a heart attack. But the reality is dirt simple: people choose to carry mobile devices. These could be a great conduit to move information relevant to diabetes management into a data cloud. To boldly go where the PWD already are.

Syncing data is a manual process. Why is that? Why do we need to drag out a cable connect it to some legacy port on a computer and jump through hoops to move the data? At one point our the meters and pumps all used cables connecting to the serial port but the Windows XP box I had at the time only had one such port. Naturally the cables were different so to down load the meters and pumps meant swapping cables. Care to guess how often that seemed like a good idea?

Why do we need to manually sync at all? Why not just introduce the stuff* to our cell phone. Like paring a head set and then let the devices do all the work. Isn’t that what the devices are meant to do. Diabetes care is extra work. Why in the name of all things holy do we have to do extra processes to sync the stuff that is already extra work.

I think the prime directive for device manufacturers needs to be to not inter fear with the  lives that they touch. Look we all know Kirk broke the prime directive every other episode but at least there was some token angst before heading off into a romance with some alien babe.  Strive for no extra work.

The data we downloaded was less than complete. Why doesn’t the information a PWD enter into the bolus wizard come out with the download? Also the limited data downloaded it ends up in different programs. Wouldn’t it be great if the meter, cgm, pump info and maybe user information like ran three miles all showed up on the same report?

What the heck why isn’t that report smart? The rules of diabetes are not that complex. Can’t the devices apply some algorithms and point out trends.  Like, "Dude you are always high at 4:30, seriously look at these numbers." Or how about, "Listen man I love ya but I haven’t seen at lunch time blood check in ages how do you feel about a little reminder?"

Why don’t we download?

• Not compatible with our computers or devices.
• Our diabetes varies and at times we vary the meters we use.
• It is a different manual process for each device and all are pain in the ass.
• The data ends up in different reports
• It hard to pull together to figure out how it impacts life.
• Diabetes is already an intrusion and this is an intrusion we can choose to skip.

That maybe more than enough from me. What about your views on downloading, do you do it? Why or why not and how can it be mage better?

Previous data rants at YDMV:

http://www.ydmv.net/2011/04/diabetes-data-standards.htmlhttp://www.ydmv.net/2007/08/and-i-would-like-side-order-of-holy.html

Proud of the Kid

Connor spoke at the American Diabetes Association's Greater Philadelphia Area Chairmans's Reception the other day.

Did a nice job.



Proud of the kid, even if he is not much of a kid any more.

Beta Cell Stress Could Trigger Type 1 Diabetes @JDRF

Before T1d Stresses patients, stress on the beta cells may trigger T1D. Which matters because understanding how it works help find cures. So knowing what you don't know helps.

Study provides important clue in type 1 diabetes; could help scientists identify and validate potential drug targets to alleviate ER stress and preserve beta cell mass in T1D
In type 1 diabetes (T1D), pancreatic beta cells die from a misguided autoimmune attack, but how and why that happens is still unclear. Now, JDRF-funded scientists from the Indiana University School of Medicine have found that a specific type of cellular stress takes place in pancreatic beta cells before the onset of T1D, and that this stress response in the beta cell may in fact help ignite the autoimmune attack. These findings shed an entirely new light into the mystery behind how changes in the beta cell may play a role in the earliest stages of T1D, and adds a new perspective to our understanding how T1D progresses, and how to prevent and treat the disease. 

More about the study, published in the March 22 issue of the journal Diabetes, the researchers, led by Sarah Tersey, Ph.D., assistant research professor of pediatrics, and Raghavendra Mirmira, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine is online here: 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/jdrf-rfb032212.php 

Thanks Riva for the Shout Out in @JDRF Research Summit Column

Riva Greenberg has a write up of the JDRF Research Summit in her Huffington Post column. She nicely details the topics covered that day. She also quotes my YDMV write up saying;

What I, and more than 600 attendees with Type 1 diabetes, family members, health care providers and industry representatives, learned in a nutshell is what blogger Bennet Dunlap put so well, "I don't see a magic bullet coming but I do see different approaches to tackling things that will count as a cure. Those will happen like everything does in increments. Along that journey we'll see better care before cures. So prevention may come before restoration of beta cell function, that's cool, steps matter."

Thanks for your kind comment Riva, I am flattered.

If you missed the event please read Riva's piece to get a glimpse of what you missed. Two of the day's presentations are available on theBetesNOW.

Meet the T1D Exchange
Top 10 Things We Don’t Know About Type 1 Diabetes

The Best Pump

The question which is the 'best' insulin pump floats up in diabetes conversation regularly. Best is a natural but probably the wrong question.

The quality of pumps and their ability to perform the basic insulin delivery functions is so good that these days users and their care teams have the potential to define the device and vendor that most appropriately fits a person's unique lifestyle. That is a real wordy way of saying, ‘there is no best pump.’

Happily one size does not fit all.

People with diabetes have different needs because their diabetes varies. So don't look for the absolute best pump but to the device that best accommodates your individual lifestyle. This dude may love his backpack,  but it may not be your best choice. (And what is in the giant bottle on the bottom of that thing anyway?)

Design and feature matter. For example the patch, folks seem to have a love/hate relationship with the OmniPod. That is great. If you are drawn to the patch pump, no tubing, PDA driven approach -great. If like my kids. You think it is too big and uncomfortable and tube are okay a more traditional pump may be better in your life. There are a lot of criteria individuals can consider. Remotes are really great for little kids. Lock the pump down and have mom or dad operate it with a remote control. How much insulin do you use and how much does it hold. Is it a color a young girl is comfortable wearing 24/7.

CGM may matter. If CGM integration is mission critical only Medtronic has int on the market in the USA. Animas, Roche, OmniPod, and Tandem are in the on-deck circle with Dexcom. Remember that deck circle is a baseball term. There is no clock in baseball and Animas, and Omni pod have been next in the line up for years waiting to come to bat. Some of the fans in the stands are getting rowdy and jeering the Ump wanting to see them come to bat. Food databases are touted as a key feature. If they are to your look carefully at the implementation and ease of building realistic meals. Can you customize the food database to your needs.

Service matters. Check it out by calling the service in the middle of the visit by the sales team. Like everything else service varies. We have had great service from Animas other say they have had issues. Read up on TuDiabetes and CWD and keep in mind that when the device is as integral a part of life as an insulin pump, individual service expectations will be very high.

Sets matter. People talk about pump features, but the set and how it feels going in are where the rubber meets the road. -  Well, the insulin meets the subcutaneous tissue. Try on sets as part of the sales process. Sets plural, not set.

Instead of which is best maybe the question should be what features best adapt to my lifestyle. That the art and science of insulin pumping have progressed from that backpack size prototype, in the black and white pictures above, to diverse, miniature devices is great.

What is best is we get to choose based on our individual preference.


Related posts from the YDMV archives:
Why Pump
What would be Really Cool.

Updated with some grammar & spelling fixed 5/31/16. Sure there are still a ton of errors. My Writing May Vary

#TwoBits - Research Videos on Faustman and T1D Exchange

Meet the T1D Exchange from the DC JDRF Research Summit on theBetesNOW
http://thebetesnow.com/?p=201

Manny has a fascinating video interview with Dr Faustman on TuDiabetes.
http://www.tudiabetes.org/video/an-interview-with-dr-faustman-2012

Body of Proof - Type 1 Diabetes Stops Nothing

In last night’s episode of the coroner crime drama Body of Proof, the character of the  daughter of the lead was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It was done very well.

Life is going on and nobody seems to see anything coming. Grandma is at home with the teen while mom is at a business function. The teen is rushed to the hospital but nobody is sure why. Test show it is DKA associated with T1D.

Later we see mom and daughter in a hospital room. The girl has a bunch of IV tubes hanging. She is scared. Mom is scared. The girl doesn’t understand how she can have diabetes if she isn’t over weight diabetes.

Mom tells her that is type two and it is acquired but her diabetes is different.

The girl knows diabetes is incurable. She is afraid she will loose her legs or go blind.

Mom says, “You forget everything you have ever heard about diabetes. Okay? Those are misconceptions. It is a completely manageable condition...  and I am going to be with you every step of the way. Okay.”

So many things right here:

• Diabetes sneaks up on you - you don’t see it coming. 
• It is scary, for everyone in the family. 
• There are different types of diabetes. 
• Type 2 and type 1 are not the same thing.
• There is no cure.
• Forget the misconceptions. 
• I am going to be there with you every step of the way. 

There was more.

After the broadcast ABC ran a little PSA with the actresses Dana Delany and Mary Mouser on the set. They mention JDRF and speak of the kids and adults diagnosed by type 1 everyday, “like me” says the teen actress.

Wait! kid and adults... like me!

Yes. Mary Mouser, teen actress has T1D.

On the her twitter feed @MaryMMouser she wrote her goal “was to prove that Diabetes stops nothing! :)”

As the father of an aspiring young actor who also happens to be T1D the message that diabetes stops nothing is particularly poignant.

Thanks ABC.
Thank Body of Proof.
Mostly, thanks Mary.

Diabetes stops nothing!


(You can watch the episode here: http://abc.go.com/watch/body-of-proof/SH5580165/VD55179081/identity. The scene with the mom and daughter is at the end time at 40:30. Sadly the Public service announcement at the end of the broadcast is not included.)

Update: Scott posted a link the PSA in the comments, thanks Scott, here it is:

Damn Mice.

Apparently mice can now turn their gut cells into insulin producers. Seriously is it possible to spit on a mouse in a lab without curing diabetes? I think these diabetic mice just spontaneously cure themselves to stay in the media. Kinda like Charlie Sheen. 

Anyway here is the article and I notice the picture they ran is not a mouse. New Approach to Treating Type 1 Diabetes? Transforming Gut Cells Into Insulin Factories 

Not only do mice get cured at the drop of a hat they also have kick ass abs. Only way that is a mouse is if she was one of the dancers who work the Mickey suit at Disney World...

... get to hang out at Disney too. 

Damn mice