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Episode transcription below:
Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – we are also Live on YouTube and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast..
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In the News is brought to you by The World’s Worst Diabetes Mom, Real life stories of raising a child with diabetes. Available in paperback, on Kindle or as an audio book – all at Amazon.com
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Our top story, evidence that SGLT-2 inhibitors can help kidney and heart health in people with type 1. These are diabetes drugs that are already shown to lower blood sugar levels – they have brand names like Invokana and Jardiance – but they are not approved for T1D in the United States. The problem is that they can lead to DKA even with normal glucose levels. However, they are approved in Europe and many advocates say they can be used safely if people no to monitor closely.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20211107/Study-examines-benefits-of-SGLT2-inhibitors-in-individuals-with-type-1-diabetes.aspx
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Some tidbits in Tandem’s third quarter investment call last week. CEO John Sheridan says they plan to ask the US FDA this year to approve Control IQ down to age 2 – right now it’s only approved to age six. Also asking for expanded labeling for people with type 2. Mobile bolus or bolus by phone still out there waiting for approval – Sheridan says the FDA last asked them any questions in August. He says they have three initiatives for 2022: filing for the Tsport pump, integrating the upcoming Dexcom G7 and moving ahead with their partnership with Abbott’s Libre. Sheridan thinks it’ll be a matter of a few months before Tandem pumps integrate the G7 saying, “When it comes to Dexcom, we've integrated three generations of their sensors already. We're on the fourth. We know how to do this”
I hadn’t heard this, but Sheridan says the Libre had a bit of a hiccup with the FDA approving it as an iCGM, that’s a newer designation… because taking vitamin C can throw the readings off.. but he believes they’ve addressed that. We’ll follow up.
https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2021/11/03/tandem-diabetes-care-inc-tndm-q3-2021-earnings-cal/
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Insulet also had their quarterly call – CEO Shacey Petrovic says she’s still optimistic about Omnipod 5 being approved this year.. she says they’ve had a lot of back and forth with the FDA in the last few months and that’s what makes her more confident. Other tidbits.. Omnipod reports that 80% of their customers were previously on multiple daily injections only .. no prior pump experience. They think when Omnipod 5 comes out there will be more competitive switchers from other pumps. They reiterated that it will be a limited release when approval comes with a gradual rollout in the US.
https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2021/11/04/insulet-corporation-podd-q3-2021-earnings-call-tra/
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Really interesting news about some children in the US with type 1 during the pandemic – they had more time in range and lower A1Cs during the first year of the pandemic compared to the year before. They also saw their doctors more, even though 90-percents of the visits were virtual. This was a group of kids ages 1-17 all of whom use a CGM. The researchers say they want to take a closer look to try to figure out why this was the case: speculation ranges from more oversight from parents to flexibility in schedules. I can say this definitely happened in my house.. however I’ll also throw in that my son started on his first hybrid closed loop system in Jan 2020 just before the pandemic– Tandem’s CIQ - and that made a huge difference, especially when we were stuck at home and he was eating at 2am. They don’t mention the insulin delivery system here.. just that every kid had a CGM.
https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20211108/metrics-improve-for-us-children-with-type-1-diabetes-using-cgm-in-first-year-of-covid19
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Something called sleep-disordered breathing may play a role in gestational diabetes and insulin resistance. There isn’t a lot of research here.. This study looked at women who had risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea, a form of sleep disordered breathing that has been linked with high blood pressure, heart disease, and Alzheimers. The data suggests those with it may enter pregnancy at higher risk for gestational diabetes and recommend more screening. They added further investigation is needed to see if treating the breathing issue in early pregnancy could improve glucose levels.
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Fun story in football this week: Mark Andrews and Blake Ferguson will face each other in the big Thursday night NFL game. Andrews is with the Baltimore Ravens, Ferguson plays for the Miami Dolphins. They both live with type 1. It’s thought this is the first time two NFL players with T1D have faced each other. They each use Tandem pumps, btw, so expect to see some posts from that company promoting the game.
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Big grant for Beyond Type 1’s DKA Awareness Campaign. The Helmsley Charitable Trust is giving them more than $300-thousand dollars for their grassroots messaging movement. This provides posters to schools and communities and sends literature to pediatricians. Almost 50% patients under the age of 18 in the U.S. are in DKA when diagnosed with Type 1.
https://beyondtype1.org/beyond-type-1-receives-300985-helmsley-charitable-trust-grant-for-dka-awareness-campaign/
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Lots of good stuff happening for Diabetes Awareness Month.. Dexcom is partnering with Nick Jonas and Patti LaBelle… they say to help the diabetes community feel seen and heard, while advocating for improved access to diabetes care. Nick Jonas has been sharing people living with diabetes on Instagram and that’s been really fun to see. Patti LaBelle lives with type 2. She spoke to Congress earlier this month to talk about better access for people with Type 2 diabetes, especially in communities of color.
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Great round up of this kind of stuff – what the big organizations are doing for Diabetes Awareness Month over at Diabetes Mine.. I’ll link that up in the show notes;
https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/diabetes-awareness-month-2021#dexcom
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quick reminder that the podcast this week is our first ever tech roundtable. Really great discussion with two guys who follow this stuff very closely – Kamil Armacki better known as Nerdabetic and Chris Wilson. We go through everything in front of the USA FDA, some stuff that’s approved in Europe and talk about what’s coming next.
you can listen to wherever you get your podcasts or if you’re listening to this as on a podcast app, just go back an episode. Next week: holiday help – ask the Dmoms is back to help you through what can be a stressful time of year.
That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.