An insulin pump is a medical device used for the administration of insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, also known as continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy. The device configuration may vary depending on design. A traditional pump includes:
Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known drugs; today, it sells medical devices, diagnostics, branded generic medicines and nutritional products. It split off its research-based pharmaceuticals business into AbbVie in 2013.
Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis and renamed to Sanofi-Aventis, which were each the product of several previous mergers. It changed its name back to Sanofi in May 2011. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
Medtronic plc is an American medical device company. The company's operational and executive headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its legal headquarters are in Ireland due to its acquisition of Irish-based Covidien in 2015. While it primarily operates in the United States, it operates in more than 150 countries and employs over 90,000 people. It develops and manufactures healthcare technologies and therapies.
A glucose meter, also referred to as a "glucometer", is a medical device for determining the approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It can also be a strip of glucose paper dipped into a substance and measured to the glucose chart. It is a key element of glucose testing, including home blood glucose monitoring (HBGM) performed by people with diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia. A small drop of blood, obtained from slightly piercing a fingertip with a lancet, is placed on a disposable test strip that the meter reads and uses to calculate the blood glucose level. The meter then displays the level in units of mg/dL or mmol/L.
Nicole Johnson is an American beauty queen, author, public health professional and activist. Crowned Miss America 1999 and Miss Virginia 1998, she became the first Miss America with diabetes and the first contestant to publicize the use of an insulin pump. She now advocates for diabetes research, treatment, and education, having been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1993.
JDRF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that funds type 1 diabetes (T1D) research, provides a broad array of community and activist services to the T1D population and actively advocates for regulation favorable to medical research and approval of new and improved treatment modalities. It was initially founded as the JDF, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. It later changed its name to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and is now known as JDRF.
Inhalable insulin is a powdered form of insulin, delivered with an inhaler into the lungs where it is absorbed. In general inhaled insulins have been more rapidly absorbed than subcutaneous injected insulin, with faster peak concentration in serum and more rapid metabolism.
Automated insulin delivery systems are automated systems designed to assist people with insulin-requiring diabetes, by automatically adjusting insulin delivery in response to blood glucose levels. Currently available systems can only deliver a single hormone—insulin. Other systems currently in development aim to improve on current systems by adding one or more additional hormones that can be delivered as needed, providing something closer to the endocrine functionality of the pancreas.
LifeScan, Inc., is a diagnostic systems manufacturer with products focusing on the diabetes market, specifically blood glucose monitoring systems.
As a medication, insulin is any pharmaceutical preparation of the protein hormone insulin that is used to treat high blood glucose. Such conditions include type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, and complications of diabetes such as diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic states. Insulin is also used along with glucose to treat hyperkalemia. Typically it is given by injection under the skin, but some forms may also be used by injection into a vein or muscle. There are various types of insulin, suitable for various time spans. The types are often all called insulin in the broad sense, although in a more precise sense, insulin is identical to the naturally occurring molecule whereas insulin analogues have slightly different molecules that allow for modified time of action. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. In 2020, regular human insulin was the 307th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 1 million prescriptions.
MiniMed Paradigm is a series of insulin pumps manufactured by Medtronic for patients with diabetes mellitus. The pump operates with a single AAA battery and uses a piston-plunger pump to infuse a programmed amount of insulin into the patient through a length of tubing. The Paradigm uses a one-way wireless radio frequency link to receive blood sugar measurements from select glucose meters. The Paradigm RT series adds the ability to receive data from a mated continuous blood-glucose monitor. Although the pump can use these measurements to assist in calculating a dose of insulin, no actual change in insulin delivery occurs without manual user-intervention.
The Deltec Cozmo and CozMore were a series of insulin pumps made by Smiths Medical used to treat diabetes. In 2009, the company announced that it would to stop selling the Cozmo. The pump was used to deliver basal insulin continuously, and bolus insulin at meal times by pressing the buttons. The Deltec Cozmo used a 300 unit cartridge to store the insulin compared to the 200 unit cartridge of the current Animas Ping. The CozMore is a pump-meter combination consisting of a normal Cozmo insulin pump and a thin black meter that was placed over the back. The two devices connected through infrared signals. The two devices had separate power sources, but the meter could not function on its own as it displayed the information on the screen of the insulin pump.
DexCom, Inc. is a company that develops, manufactures, produces, and distributes continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems for diabetes management. It operates internationally with headquarters in San Diego, California, and has manufacturing facilities in Mesa, Arizona and Batu Kawan, Malaysia.
D. Medical Industries is a publicly traded holding company, headquartered in Israel, that develops and markets insulin pumps and infusion sets through its subsidiary, Spring-Set Health Solutions. Shares of the company are traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Tandem Diabetes Care is an American medical device manufacturer based in San Diego, California. The company develops medical technologies for the treatment of diabetes and specifically insulin infusion therapy.
Bigfoot Biomedical Inc. is a medical technology start-up headquartered in Milpitas, California, founded by a team of people with personal connections to type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
The Open Artificial Pancreas System (OpenAPS) project is a free and open-source project that aims to make basic artificial pancreas system (APS) technology available to everyone. The OpenAPS project was designed with the idea of quickly getting the APS technology to more people using a direct approach, rather than waiting for clinical trials to be completed and regulatory approval to be granted.
A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is a device used for monitoring blood glucose on a continual basis instead of monitoring glucose levels periodically by drawing a drop of blood from a finger. CGMs are used by people who treat their diabetes with insulin, for example people with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, or other types of diabetes, such as gestational diabetes.
Robert Derek Channon is a British engineer known for inventing an insulin pump for diabetics, and miniaturized helicopters for the UK military. A diabetic himself, Channon developed the three ounce insulin pump to replace his own regular insulin injections. The National Medical Research Foundation awarded Channon £26,000 to develop the pump. In 1980, the National Medical Research Foundation awarded Guy's Hospital £40,000 to test Channon's pump in people with diabetes. The trial, under the supervision of Harry Keen, tested whether using the pump reduced the development of blindness in 30 people with diabetes.
