Diabetes Technology Society’s Virtual International COVID-19 and Diabetes Summit – Jordan Messler, MD, SFHM, FACP

The 2020 Diabetes Technology Society’s Virtual International COVID-19 and Diabetes Summit brought together a broad range of panelists to discuss the “Role of Industry” during the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The speakers represented COVID-19 testing, vaccine development, continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and the role of insulin management software.

The panel outlined how hospitals are amidst unprecedented surges in terms of patient capacity as well as experiencing shortages of PPE and insulin pumps. Sites have also been challenged with managing IV insulin per best practice recommendations, given the needs to preserve PPE and minimize health care workers’ contacts with COVID-19 positive patients.

During his presentation, Dr. Messler discussed current glycemic management challenges hospitals are facing during the pandemic and how Glytec is partnering with our customers to navigate these challenges, research findings on patients with hyperglycemia and COVID-19, and how utilizing eGMS^® gets patients into target range faster and more safely.

Watch this video for a better understanding of the challenges hospitals are facing and the strategies Glytec adopted to better service our customers. Other insights include:  

• Patients hospitalized with COVID-19, who have glycemic characteristics such as stress hyperglycemia and/or diabetes have more serious outcomes
• IV insulin requires frequent blood glucose checks and nursing intervention in the patient room. What solutions are helping front line providers maintain best practices in the hospital?
• The FDA non-objection to CGM has cleared the way for hospitals to trial CGM use, particularly for managing IV insulin
• Collaborative learnings from across the industry
• How technology-driven glycemic management can get patients in range faster, more safely, and is proven to reduce rates of hypo and hyperglycemia

Other findings discussed as a part of this panel included Dexcom’s Daniel Chernavvsky’s overview of the role of CGMs during the pandemic and how they are facilitating use of CGMs within hospitals. Corinne Fantz from Roche Diagnostics discussed testing for COVID-19 her report of a rapid antigen test that is available and can report results within 15 minutes. Rosalind Hollingsworth, Global Medical Franchise Head for Influenza/RSV at Sanofi Pasteur discussed 2 approaches for a COVID-19 vaccine. One would be an mRNA vaccine approach that requires a new mode of producing vaccines. The other, a well-accepted method to produce viral antigens, is a recombinant vaccine approach, which can take advantage of existing large-scale manufacturing capacity.

Panelists and their respective time stamps within the video are:

Jordan Messler, MD, SFHM, FACP 

Executive Director, Clinical Practice, Glytec, Waltham, MA, USA

26:29 – 36:17

Daniel Chernavvsky, MD

Senior Director of Medical Affairs, Dexcom, San Diego, California, USA

0:33 – 12:11

Corinne Fantz, PhD, DABCC, FACB

Director of Medical and Scientific Affairs-POC, Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

12:23 – 17:37

Rosalind Hollingsworth, PhD

Global Medical Franchise Head for Influenza/RSV, Sanofi Pasteur, Swiftwater, Pennsylvania, USA

17:49 – 26:18

Matthew Taylor, CFA

MedTech Supplies & Devices Analyst, UBS-ARC, New York, New York, USA

36:28 – 42:06

ECO #0949-A