The News:
Tandem announced plans–in partnership with Breakthrough T1D–to develop a dual-chambered insulin pump!
What This Means for the T1D Community:
Ever felt like you were trying to steer your T1D bike with a hand tied behind your back?
There are lots of reasons to feel this way.
One of the ways I feel most wobbly is that currently, we treat T1D with only one hormone.
The beta cells in the pancreas do a lot more than just produce insulin. Insulin, though, is the one beta-cell-produced hormone that a person with T1D needs to stay alive.
Glucagon? Amilyn? If we are shooting for really good control of the disease, these are important hormones too. Amilyn slows the emptying of the stomach and helps minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. Glucagon acts as a sort of insulin antidote, keeping blood sugars from falling dangerously low when too much insulin is in the system.
Currently, insulin pumps administer only life-saving insulin.
A dual-chambered pump would allow for two hormones to be pumped into the body, allowing for an artificial pancreas that operates much more like a traditional pancreas.
Tandem isn’t stating which hormone they’re targeting for that second pump. This depends, I’d imagine, on the development of a glucagon that is stable.
Luckily, Breakthrough T1D dollars and scientists are hard at work developing that too!
But announcements like this, ones that get us closer to an effective, easy-to-use, readily-available artificial pancreas, make it suck a little but less.
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