Artificial Pancreas for Patients: An Effective Device That Can Be Used at Home!

A team of scientists affiliated with the University of Cambridge, located in the United Kingdom, has trialed their artificial pancreas on patients living with type 2 diabetes, and the successful outcome gives hope to millions of people having to deal with the health condition.

“Many people with type 2 diabetes struggle to manage their blood sugar levels using the currently available treatments, such as insulin injections,” explains Dr. Charlotte Boughton from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge, co-leader of the study. “The artificial pancreas can provide a safe and effective approach to help them, and the technology is simple to use and can be implemented safely at home.”

The artificial pancreas combines an off-the-shelf glucose monitor and insulin pump with the CamAPS HX app which runs on an algorithm capable of predicting the quantity of insulin required to maintain a healthy level of glucose, between 3.9 and 10.0mmol/L, which is the target range. Nine out of ten patients – or 89% – reported spending less time managing their diabetes overall with the use of the artificial pancreas with no injections or fingerprick testing required. A similar artificial pancreas has previously proven to be successful for patients with type 1 diabetes. The team wishes to conduct a much larger multicenter study to make their device available for patients with type 2 diabetes as soon as possible.