# Coin-sized smart insulin patch, potential diabetes treatment



## Northerner (Feb 9, 2020)

UCLA bioengineers and colleagues at UNC School of Medicine and MIT have further developed a smart insulin-delivery patch that could one day monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes and deliver the necessary insulin dosage. The adhesive patch, about the size of a quarter, is simple to manufacture and intended for once-a-day use.

The study, published in _Nature Biomedical Engineering_, describes research conducted on mice and pigs. The research team, led by Zhen Gu, PhD, professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, is applying for FDA approval of clinical trials in humans. Gu and colleagues conducted the initial successful tests of the smart insulin patch in mice in 2015 in North Carolina.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200204163702.htm


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## mikeyB (Feb 9, 2020)

Given the amount of insulin I take daily it would have to be about the size of a side plate to make something thin enough to make it a patch. I’ve said this before, and will say it again - I am not a mouse.


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## Amity Island (Feb 13, 2020)

Northerner said:


> UCLA bioengineers and colleagues at UNC School of Medicine and MIT have further developed a smart insulin-delivery patch that could one day monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes and deliver the necessary insulin dosage. The adhesive patch, about the size of a quarter, is simple to manufacture and intended for once-a-day use.
> 
> The study, published in _Nature Biomedical Engineering_, describes research conducted on mice and pigs. The research team, led by Zhen Gu, PhD, professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, is applying for FDA approval of clinical trials in humans. Gu and colleagues conducted the initial successful tests of the smart insulin patch in mice in 2015 in North Carolina.
> 
> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200204163702.htm


Northerner,
I'm guessing that insulin can be made in different strengths? to be able to have such a small patch?


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## trophywench (Feb 13, 2020)

Yes re different strengths - what we use is 100u/ml whereas I am aware that 500u/ml is available to medics for use in hospital, but not sure on whom in what circumstances.


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## Amity Island (Feb 13, 2020)

trophywench said:


> Yes re different strengths - what we use is 100u/ml whereas I am aware that 500u/ml is available to medics for use in hospital, but not sure on whom in what circumstances.


Jenny,
I'd assume that would effectively mean 5 units of 100u/mL would be same as 1 unit of 500u/mL? 
So a days worth of insulin on a patch would for me convert from 20basal+30bolus = 50 units @ 100u/mL to just 10units @ 500u/mL
With nano technology, pumps could be tiny and blutoothed to a controller like on a watch.


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## Amity Island (Feb 13, 2020)

mikeyB said:


> Given the amount of insulin I take daily it would have to be about the size of a side plate to make something thin enough to make it a patch. I’ve said this before, and will say it again - I am not a mouse.


Mike,
I'm intrigued how they would get the insulin to work quickly enough for the device to keep blood sugar within a good range? I mean, even for basal, I think pump users have to pre-programme their basal rates.


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## trophywench (Feb 16, 2020)

Ah, well, see, Amity, if you wear a CGMS and your pump is able to communicate with same and calculate how much more less same insulin dose you need for whatever g of carb or none, you'd then possess a 'closed loop' pump system - ie as much like a real pancreas as possible.

I wouldn't sit round waiting really cos they haven't managed to invent a usable/available one so far, so they'll have found the cure before they get one invented anyway!  LOL


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## everydayupsanddowns (Feb 16, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> I mean, even for basal, I think pump users have to pre-programme their basal rates.



We’ve a few members here on the MM670G, which (when run with Guardian sensors) in ‘auto mode’ doesn’t use a user-defined basal pattern, it uses automatically calculated micro-boluses instead (which is effectively a basal pattern... but not quite). You set a user-defined basal rate, but only as a fallback when in ‘manual mode’.

The tslim with ‘control IQ’ (and Dexcom sensors) does something very similar I think.


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## Amity Island (Feb 16, 2020)

trophywench said:


> Ah, well, see, Amity, if you wear a CGMS and your pump is able to communicate with same and calculate how much more less same insulin dose you need for whatever g of carb or none, you'd then possess a 'closed loop' pump system - ie as much like a real pancreas as possible.
> 
> I wouldn't sit round waiting really cos they haven't managed to invent a usable/available one so far, so they'll have found the cure before they get one invented anyway!  LOL


What we need is an insulin that acts within minutes, but only lasts minutes, that way it can go in as needed and stop when not needed. Does this exist, can it be made?


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## everydayupsanddowns (Feb 17, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> What we need is an insulin that acts within minutes, but only lasts minutes, that way it can go in as needed and stop when not needed. Does this exist, can it be made?



I think they are certainly looking for it.

One of the challenges is delivering the wrong insulin to the wrong place. The body’s own insulin is far more rapidly acting, and is delivered more directly into the bloodstream, whereas injected insulin goes into subcutaneous tissue, and has to find its way into the bloodstream from there.

I have a friend with an insulin ‘port’ where insulin is delivered more directly (into peritoneal cavity I think?) but this requires a small surgery to replace it every so often.


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## Northerner (Feb 17, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> What we need is an insulin that acts within minutes, but only lasts minutes, that way it can go in as needed and stop when not needed. Does this exist, can it be made?


There have been attempts to produce a nasal insulin which, i theory, acts very quickly and has a short duration, but the ones produced so far have not been commercially successful due to various limitations and potential side effects (like possible lung damage  )


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## mikeyB (Feb 17, 2020)

Don't get your hopes up, but by far the easiest way to get drugs into the body bypassing the digestive system is rectally. Fast and effective - but tricky in a restaurant.


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## Bruce Stephens (Feb 17, 2020)

Northerner said:


> There have been attempts to produce a nasal insulin which, i theory, acts very quickly and has a short duration, but the ones produced so far have not been commercially successful due to various limitations and potential side effects



As I understand it, inhaled rather than nasal. (I'm not sure why nasal delivery would be impractical (and maybe that's also been tried), but I can see an advantage in getting to the lungs (given they're nice and central).) Apparently it acts within a minute or two and lasts for a small number of hours (1.5-4), so (at the low end) short acting. (I'm guessing nasal insulin, if it exists, would be a bit more like injected insulin in action.)

Here's an article looking at the commercial failure of inhaled insulin: https://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/3/180


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## everydayupsanddowns (Feb 17, 2020)

Just don’t mention it by name...


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## Bloden (Feb 18, 2020)

Basal, nasal, anal...whatever next?!


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