I wasn’t able to attend the ADA’s Scientific Sessions this year, even though it was in Orlando. If I was still living in Florida, I most likely would have went, but a 2.5 hour drive is a lot different than a 2.5 hour flight.
There has been a lot of news coming out of ADA. Which, I will just never understand. I know that there is a lot of attention and PR going on about the event, but wouldn’t you want to announce your big announcements before it or even a little after?
There were some huge announcements and then 30 minutes later another huge announcement hit the press wave and now your announcement is not getting as much attention.
I know it’s just how PR has always been done, but it just doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re wasting your attention span.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. Today I am going to write about the Tandem announcement and tomorrow will be about an implantable CGM device.
Tandem Diabetes Care
So, Tandem announced the approval of their t:slim X2 insulin pump with Basal-IQ Technology. What does that all mean?
Well, as I mentioned, I don’t have the full tech details because I wasn’t there to ask questions, but from what I can gather, this is what it is.
The t:slim pump will integrate with the Dexcom G6 to create a predictive low glucose suspend. This seems to be very similar to what the Medtronic 670G does already, but this is huge news because it gives Dexcom users and t:slim users the same opportunity without having to switch from their beloved products.
Tandem’s Basal-IG algorithm will be able to “look” 30 minutes into the future to help predict a low blood sugar. This would then activate the predictive low glucose suspend and the insulin pump will suspend insulin delivery and then begin again once levels start to rise.
This device should be available in August 2018 according to the press release.
Please note that everything I mention above was mentioned in the official press release.
What is awesome about this is that if users are currently already using a t:slim X2 insulin pump, they don’t need to worry about upgrading to a new pump. When I was using the 630G, the 670G was approved about a month later, but I couldn’t make the switch to 670G right away. I eventually did in order to try it, but it took a long time.
With the t:slim X2, users can easily update their software free of charge to include the Basal-IG Technology.
I decided at the beginning of the year to go with Dexcom and MDI.
This is definitely exciting and I know that a lot of people were waiting for this announcement. I’m super happy for Tandem and look forward to hearing more great things about this.
Darn you Tandem for now making me re-think my decision.
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This puts tandem up to the level of tech of the last generation Medtornic plus hardware that can be updated. The tech is once again getting closer.