BD, JDRF Collaborate On Extended-Wear Insulin Infusion Set
By Jof Enriquez,
Follow me on Twitter @jofenriq
Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BD) and JDRF are expanding their existing collaboration to develop new therapies for type 1 diabetes with a new two-year pact to develop an extended-wear insulin infusion set.
JDRF, a leading global charitable organization providing funding for diabetes research, previously worked with BD on another insulin infusion set featuring a unique side-ported catheter designed to prevent silent occlusions blamed for dangerous hyperglycemic events in some patients. That device received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year, and was later launched commercially by Medtronic.
The newer collaboration between BD and JDRF focuses on designing new devices allowing infusion sets to be effective beyond three days, which is the typical set life for most insulin infusion sets currently on the market.
“Insulin infusion therapy has substantial clinical benefits for type 1 diabetes management, yet its potential is limited by an abbreviated three-day infusion set usage life,” said Ken Miller, president of Diabetes Care for BD, in a news release. “Thanks to our latest partnership with JDRF, we can continue to build on the successful innovations BD currently offers in the insulin infusion category. We are extremely excited for this opportunity to advance the science and understanding of insulin delivery.”
JDRF will help fund research to look into the mechanical-material and biological issues that contribute to limited set lifetime of these devices, and to design devices that overcome these technical hurdles.
“JDRF is pleased to continue our partnership with BD to further reduce the burden of managing infusion sets for people with type 1 diabetes. Living with diabetes is challenging, and JDRF’s goal is to provide broad access to innovative therapies, ensuring each person with this disease has access to treatments to enable them to have better outcomes and to lead healthy lives,” said Vincent Crabtree, Ph.D., director of Research Business Development at JDRF.
Related, BD last week launched a new type of syringe co-prescribed with vials of Humulin R U-500, a concentrated insulin developed and manufactured by Eli Lilly. The new syringe help patients and clinicians avoid the dosing errors associated with using traditional insulin syringes in administering Humulin R U-500, which has five times more insulin per milliliter than traditional U-100 insulin.
People with type 1 diabetes must have insulin delivered by injection or a pump to survive. Insulin also is commonly used to control blood glucose in people with type 2 diabetes. About 29.1 million people or 9.3 percent of the U.S. population have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).