Can Software Be The Solution To The Insulin War So Many Are Facing?

April 25, 2023

Michael Gale

Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation. Between 2000 and 2019, there was a 3% increase in diabetes mortality rates by age. In 2019, diabetes and kidney disease due to diabetes caused an estimated 2 million deaths. 100M in the US have pre-diabetes condition.

The issues of insulin access is so dramatic that the governor California is seeing the production of it in state as a key for its citizens. With FDA approval, the contract announced Saturday is expected to deliver insulin to Californians starting in 2024. Civica will begin manufacturing the drug later this year under a 10-year agreement with the state, the provisions of which go into effect once the first delivery is made, Newsom said.

This is an impending disaster unless we find new ways to solve this in Everything from high levels of personalized protocols to in home management through to new delivery mechanisms that deliver once over a long period of time help. If we could solve the issues around diabetes then this will free up valuable resources in hospital labs, beds and professional healthcare that has to handle the negative cascading effects of area like renal failure.

New technology and protocols that can be put under the skin for a yearlong delivery could help resolve this. The idea of a hospital at home could first be tested by being able to monitor, orchestrate and adjust medications on the edge at each of homes on a highly customized basis. Here are some of the concepts talked about in the podcast:

• There are ten plus medication choices for handling Diabetes and the combination of mixes is very complex. AI could analyze these choices based on clusters of data that range from income, age, zip code, protocols and outcomes to adjust medications.
• Treatments like Ozempic (for weight loss) may also have positive effects on certain types of diabetes. This may indicate how medications can cross treat areas.
• A diabetes treatment delivered, once a year, sub dermally could radically reduce the cost of management for patients and health care providers.
• The key is to meet patients where they are and the key is using nudge or incremental steps in management.
• Sensors and wearable continual glucose monitors (CGM) are key however the US is slower to adopt the new lower cost and smaller types of sensors than in Asia and Europe and this prevents a more rapid adoption here, putting increased pressures on medical professionals in the US. Right now 50% of type I patients have these wearables and it should be 100% by 2032.
• The idea of a hospital at home needs to be the norm as patients handle their illness, 24x7x365. A clinician only turns up, when absolutely necessary.
• Large language AI models could have a conversation with you around lab tests and articles to read.

Robby Booth serves as Glytec’s Chief Strategy and Research Officer, facilitating the company’s innovation programs, patent inventions and FDA clearances as well as multiple partnerships with vendors of complementary technologies. He has 20 years of experience in developing and commercializing disruptive solutions.

Glytec is the insulin management software company for healthcare providers focused on improving the quality and cost of care. Its FDA-cleared titration software and proprietary algorithms power the only solution capable of delivering personalized diabetes treatment recommendations across the continuum of care, from hospital to home.

This article originally appeared in Forbes.