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Artificial Pancreas Successfully Trialed for Use by Type 2 Diabetes Patients Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully trialed an artificial pancreas for use by patients living with type 2 diabetes. The device – powered by an algorithm developed at the University of Cambridge – doubled the amount of time patients were in the target range for glucose compared to standard treatment and halved the time spent experiencing high glucose levels. Around 415 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with type 2 diabetes, which costs around $760 billion in annual global health expenditure. According to Diabetes UK,...

Doctors are reporting a major step toward an “artificial pancreas,” a device that would constantly monitor blood sugar in people with diabetes and automatically supply insulin as needed. A key component of such a system—an insulin pump programmed to shut down if blood sugar dips too low while people are sleeping—worked as intended in a three-month study of 247 patients. This “smart pump,” made by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc., is already sold in Europe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing it now. Whether it also can be programmed to mimic a real pancreas and constantly adjust insulin based...

'Artificial pancreas' could remove multiple daily finger prick tests for children with type 1 diabetes An artificial pancreas system being developed by scientists at Cambridge in the UK could help safely manage type 1 diabetes in children. The new system combines a commercially available continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump, and uses a sophisticated algorithm which calculates the correct amount of insulin to deliver based on real-time glucose readings. The research team found that using an artificial pancreas system overnight can significantly reduce the risk of hypoglycemia, or "hypos", when blood glucose levels drop dangerously low, while sleeping. "Hypos"...