A plethora of news
Well summertime has arrived and while Diabetic Investor may be back from vacation that didn’t mean the wacky world took a break. So let’s take a look at some of the items that popped up while Diabetic Investor was of recharging our batteries.
News of a “smart” insulin patch has been getting a lot of attention lately. Researchers at the University of North Carolina are developing a 4-cm patch that features more than 100 eyelash-sized microneedles, which contain enough insulin to provide the same dosage as a single injection. Even better they also contain glucose-sensing enzymes that can identify when blood-sugar levels are too high and release the insulin into the blood stream.
According to Zhen Gu, from the joint University of North Carolina/NC State’s Department of Biomedical Engineering; “We have designed a patch for diabetes that works fast, is easy to use, and is made from nontoxic, biocompatible materials. The whole system can be personalized to account for a diabetic’s weight and sensitivity to insulin, so we could make the smart patch even smarter.”
As impressive as this sounds the patch is still years away from hitting the market, besides having to go through clinical trials the team is working on extending the life of the patch from a several hours to several days. Given the distinguished team working on this project Diabetic Investor will be paying close attention to how this progresses.
The second piece of news comes from the Bay area where Sano Intelligence recently raised $10.25 million in funding from True Ventures and Intel Capital with participation from First Round, Felicis Ventures, Elevation Capital, Floodgate, and Rock Health. Sano is developing …wait for it… a mobile sensor that continuously monitors metabolic panel data and transmits it to patients, providers, and the chronically ill. The company is also developing a biometric-sensing wearable that, among other things, noninvasively tracks blood glucose to “will help people understand what’s happening inside their bodies through continuously monitoring important markers in their bodies’ chemistry”.
According to Sano founder Ashwin Pushpala; “We’ll figure it out as we have people using the product, but if we have a large enough dataset it potentially could be used as a predict measure. You walk into Chipotle and see what’s on the menu, and you can look at how other people of your body type responded to those types of foods before you even make a decision.”
The Sano team includes former members of Apple, Google, Samsung, and Fitbit.
Now Diabetic Investor has been here before so all we’ll say is good luck.
The last piece of news comes from our wine drinking friends in France as Olivier Brandicourt last week told unions that he will unveil a five-year strategic plan in November after the company’s third-quarter results. A plan which Diabetic Investor suspects will finally shed some light on where the company is going with their struggling diabetes franchise. Given that Afrezza and Toujeo aren’t performing as expected combined with the company’s bloated sales structure look for some serious cost cutting. Our sources indicate these cuts could come before the 5 year plan become public, so stay tuned.
Well that’s all for now – enjoy the short work week.
