New Lancing Devices and Diabetes Drugs for 2017
When choosing a few of the brand-new items, we first talked with Gary Scheiner, MS, CDE, scientific director of Integrated Diabetes Services of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Scheiner, known as the MacGyver of diabetes items, has lived with Type 1 diabetes for more than 30 years. He tries brand-new items prior to recommending them to patients. “It’s important to see new items from the user’s viewpoint, not just from the [health-care practitioner’s] side of things,” said Scheiner.
New Diabetes Products for 2017
In 2016, the rate of innovation continued to race ahead with amazing technology right out of a Star Trek episode. The growing use of smartphone technology and mobile applications has actually resulted in much better access to blood glucose readings, general health info, and far more. Read on to learn about the latest items. We ensure you there’s something here for everyone, whether you live with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
In this installment, we take a look at lancing devices and diabetes drugs that have actually recently hit the marketplace.
Lancing devices
Motivated to assist a friend with Type 2 diabetes, bioengineer Christopher Jacobs, PhD, developed a new lancing device, called Genteel, to lower the pain of puncturing fingertips.
“I was moved by his distress, obliged by our friendship, and reversed by the irresistible siren tune that lies at the heart of every engineering difficulty,” stated Jacobs. For 10 years, Jacobs studied the limitations of existing devices and the interconnection in between blood capillaries and pain nerves.
What’s special about the Genteel device is the lancet just reaches blood capillaries and prevents hitting the deeper pain nerves completely. It’s the first FDA-cleared product that draws sufficient blood from not just the fingers, but other body websites.
The Genteel was authorized by the FDA as the first Class II lancing device. In one patient study, more than 82% noted that they experienced an improvement in fulfillment with their blood drawing experience.
New diabetes medicines
The FDA authorized two mix products that contain long-acting insulin and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, a hormone that helps normalize blood glucose levels. The products include Xultophy from Novo Nordisk and Soliqua from Sanofi. Xultophy combines the long-acting insulin degludec (Tresiba) with liraglutide (Victoza); Soliqua combines long-acting insulin glargine (Lantus) plus lixisenatide (Adlyxin).
Both products, which are readily available as once-daily injections, become part of a brand-new class of diabetes treatments that integrate a basal insulin and GLP-1 receptor agonists.
See also: Choose The Best Medications for Type 2 Diabetes
“I am excited for this new class of type 2 diabetes medication that can provide patients another treatment alternative to assist them reach their goals,” stated John Buse, MD, director of the Diabetes Center, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Jardiance (empagliflozin) is back in the news again, this time for becoming the first diabetes drug authorized to decrease the risk of cardiovascular death. Established by Boehringer Ingelheim, Jardiance was authorized in 2014 as an accessory to diet and exercise to improve blood sugar levels in adults with Type 2 diabetes.
This new approval is based upon information from a large research study that showed the medication considerably minimized the risk of cardiovascular death, non-fatal cardiac arrest or non-fatal stroke by 14% versus placebo. This main finding was driven by a significant 38% decrease in the risk of cardiovascular death.
“People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop heart disease than people without diabetes. The brand-new indication for empagliflozin makes it possible for doctors for the first time to provide adults with Type 2 diabetes with a diabetes medication that can decrease their risk of dying from heart disease,” stated Christopher Cannon, MD, of the Cardiovascular Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medication, Harvard Medical School. “It also offers doctors a chance to consult with and educate individuals with Type 2 diabetes about their increased risk for cardiovascular disease and to assist them understand this major issue of their condition.”
