Interview with JDRF President (Continued)

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MORE RESEARCH EFFORTS

Kelly: Can you tell us about the control-to-range trial? How is the research progressing?

Jeffrey: We’ve tested a number of algorithmic approaches but are just beginning the control-to-range studies. Inpatient control-to range-studies have begun in Europe, and will begin soon in the U.S. It takes longer to get approval in the United States for these inpatient studies, where the patient is in a hospital bed and the nurse is testing the blood sugar every 15 minutes. It’s totally inconceivable that a person could be exposed to ANY danger under these conditions. But approval from the FDA to proceed with those inpatient studies can take months. As a result, I'm worried about the progress we’re going to be able to make in the outpatient setting.

Kelly: How has JDRF approached the FDA?

Jeffrey: We meet with the FDA every three months. I was down there with the team recently. We have active discussions with them and it’s still hard, but we’ve only just begun. We’re working with a broad community of researchers, clinicians, and people affected by type 1 to bring the best scientific data and information about the needs of patients to the FDA. Frustration in the community is growing, and we and others will step up our advocacy for clear and reasonable FDA guidelines.

Kelly: It seems like JDRF has placed more focus on faster insulin recently. Can you tell us how this developed?

Jeffrey: We looked at what’s needed to get to a fully automated artificial pancreas and what components are in place today or will be in place in the coming years. We’re going to have smaller, more accurate, better pumps. We’re going to have subsequent generations of CGM that should be more accurate, perhaps through a combination of sensors, redundant sensors, and/or different types of sensors. The one thing needed for the artificial pancreas that is not on anybody’s radar today is fast-acting insulin. Even the fastest insulin still takes 20 minutes to start working and 90 minutes to peak. That’s not how the pancreas works – the pancreas secretes insulin with instantaneous action.

We need to get closer to that instantaneous effect. There are a couple of different ways you can do that. You can have a different chemical compound that gets into the bloodstream faster and becomes active faster. You can have a device that delivers the insulin to the different parts of the body or facilitates the uptake of the insulin. We realized that this was a serious gap that needed to be filled. We went to a bunch of the insulin and device companies and said, “What can we do to help spur development of faster-acting insulin?” Hence, we have this partnership with BD around the micro-needle. This is really interesting technology that delivers insulin intradermally, which has much faster uptake.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Adam: What advice would you give to parents who have children with diabetes?

Jeffrey: Make sure you get to know and interact with other parents of kids with type 1. It seems so hard and overwhelming, especially at the time of diagnosis, but also when kids hit adolescence and become more independent. However hard it seems in your family, you are definitely not alone. The story has played out millions of times in millions of families. But it gets easier. The kids grow up and find their way. The prospects for living a healthy life with this disease are very good now, and only getting better. And the tools will be making it much easier to live with over time. There is much exciting progress on the horizon.

Kelly: Any final thoughts for our readers?

Jeffrey: I would like to emphasize the important changes happening at JDRF. There’s an evolution happening and it’s happening pretty fast. We’re trying to make sure that our public identity catches up with what we’re doing. It’s certainly a big challenge, but it’s the right way to do things. A lot of organizations try to change their marketing messages and then hastily change what they do in order to accord with those messages. We’re doing something new and exciting now and our challenge is just to communicate that to the public.

Kelly: Jeffrey, we so appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. Thank you so much for your leadership in diabetes and for pushing us all to do as well as we can.

Jeffrey: I enjoyed it. Thank you very much as well and for working so hard on diaTribe. It’s been great to watch diaTribe grow – thank you so much for all the wonderful education for people with diabetes.

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NOTE: This information is not intended to be a replacement or substitute for consultation with a qualified medical professional or for professional advice related to diabetes or another medical condition. Please contact your physician or medical professional with any questions and concerns about your medical condition.

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