Good news for diabetes patients. It won't be long before an automatic artificial pancreas makes its appearance on the Dutch market. The device was developed by mechanical engineer Robin Koops, who is a diabetic himself.
The medical device is technically complete, but the necessary certifications are still awaited. Should these come, sugar patient Robin Koops' invention will be on the market next year.
In the 1990s, Koops was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It changed his life. To diabetestype1.nl he says: "The daily misery of pricking, calculating and injecting never gets used to. Sometimes there are days when I have three to four hypos. Everything has an impact, even what people often don't know: talking, thinking, studying, because your brain uses extra glucose then. So my wife keeps asking: 'Is your sugar okay? Will your sugar be fine in the next two hours?' And no matter how well you try, you never actually do well enough."
First ideas
The mechanical engineer decided to do something about it. "I wanted to invent a device that fully automatically regulates blood sugar, where you don't have to think anymore. And where, therefore, as a human being, you can't make mistakes either.'' He put some ideas on paper, asked a diabetes nurse to collaborate and had a friend write the initial software. The result were two rather large clunky cabinets. He was the first test subject himself; it turned out to work, although it took up a lot of space. They tinkered further and also developed a portable device, the size of a shoulder bag.
Fully automated
It then took some time before a doctor was found willing to test the device; the medical community was reluctant. The hospital that cooperated gave them access to patients with the most irregular blood sugar levels. The test passed. We are now ten years on and Robin has developed an artificial pancreas in small size. The device, which the creators say is a kind of thick insulin pump, you wear on a waistband. It is connected to your abdomen with two infusion tubes and two sensors, with which it continuously measures blood sugar.
Insulin and glucagon
The device is unique because it administers both insulin and glucagon; it fully automatically adjusts both high and low blood sugar levels. In addition, the device uses a self-learning algorithm so it adapts to the person wearing it. This makes it suitable for everyone.
Testing
Over the next three to four months, the artificial pancreas will be tested in 36 patients. Patients who tried the device before were already very enthusiastic about using it. The main purpose of this test is to check whether the medical device is safe enough for patients. Once the (positive) results are known, the company Inreda Diabetic in Goor will scale up production. Inreda Diabetic is the company Koops founded to develop and produce his invention. "We want to start helping 50 patients a year initially from September 2019," he tells the AD. "In two to three years, that could be fifteen hundred on an annual basis."
There are more companies developing similar devices, but only a few with insulin as well as glucagon. Moreover, they are not as far along as Koops' device. Robin hopes his invention will improve the health and quality of life of many people.
Source: diabetestype1.nl/NU.nl
