Diabetes' "Holy Grail"

Filed in archive News on July 12, 2006

Quite the convoluted description, though perhaps it will prove to be an apt one of a new diabetes device, paving the way towards an artificial pancreas. A continuous

glucose monitor, invented by Medtronic, is highly effective...and highly expensive. Though the device is "only" $1,000, it cannot function without sensors, which must be purchased separately at the cost of about $4,200 a year.

This may seem like a sort of cheat, but Medtronic isn't apologizing. Neither are any of the other companies poised to make big bucks off the diabetes epidemic. Diabetes is all the rage this year, and everybody wants a piece of the financial pie. Scientists are looking to this new style of continuous monitoring as a sign of amazing things to come (with amazing profits to be made):

As the first monitor to be tied to an insulin pump, Medtronic's Paradigm is a sign that the artificial pancreas is not a "pipe dream," said Scott Thoma, a securities analyst with edward jones.

"It's a step toward the Holy Grail," Thoma said.

The idea is to take the patient out of the loop. Dr. Bruce Buckingham, a Stanford University pediatric endocrinologist who tests a variety of monitors, said that while monitors help adolescents control their blood sugars, many youths revert to their bad habits.

"To really have a major impact, it needs to be automated - where you take it out of the patient's hands," Kowalski said.

The artificial pancreas would consist of an implanted insulin pump and sensor that would essentially act as the pancreas by detecting blood-sugar levels and administering insulin doses as needed in any given situation.

"It's a huge market opportunity," Wald said. "Medtronic is further ahead than anyone."

(Photo Source: Medtronic)