The Naming of the 530G as an Artificial Pancreas

I know that I am a little late to posting my thoughts and views from the Medtronic Diabetes Advocate Forum, but better late than never.  There has been a lot of great posts and follow-ups out there to read to keep you busy.  The first topic that I wanted to touch base on was the usage of the phrase artificial pancreas and some of the backlash that Medtronic received when using that phrase for the 530G Enlite System.

When it comes to naming of things, marketing, etc. I am not too concerned with a name that is used.  I completely understand the backlash however, because of the false hope that it gives to people who hear or see the name Artificial Pancreas.  On the other hand, I am a firm believer that it is your own personal responsibility to understand the tools that you are using to manage your diabetes and to do your research.  One look at the 530G system and you would know that it’s not a true, fully closed loop artificial pancreas, but it’s a system that is helping to get closer to the end goal.

What was nice to hear was that Medtronic admitted to the mistake and also understood the backlash and made the comment that they would put more time into naming their systems.  VP of regulatory compliance, Mark McDonnell said “we’ve heard you about the term artificial pancreas”

I know that I was not alone when I say, “I don’t care what you call it, make it work and make it accurate”

I would much rather the extra time that is spent on the naming of the product to be spent on testing the accuracy.

Now, enough with the naming part of the 530G, and I encourage the debate, because I agree that the naming could be better, but also am not too upset about it.

One of the features that the 530G system utilizes to get it closer to being an artificial pancreas, is the low glucose suspend, which will suspend the pump when your blood sugar is approaching your low level that you have set up with your doctor.  This feature is great for those that go low in the middle of the night, but may not feel that they are low or do not hear the CGM beeping, vibrating or whatever other song and dance it does when you’re going low.

As somebody that doesn’t go low too often in the middle of the night, and when I do, I have had the benefit of recognizing it and being able to wake up and correct, the low suspend is not as important to me as a high glucose insulin delivery feature would be.  That is how to come closer to closing the loop and being an artificial pancreas.  Catch the spike in a BG and dose insulin as needed, but I know there are a lot of dangerous “what if’s” that come into play here, but that is where the R&D will help.

I cannot remember which Medtronic employee said this, but the comparison to a fully closed loop system and an airplane was made by saying, “Full closed loop system is like an airplane on auto pilot..there’s still a pilot there to make decisions and provide input”

The bottom line of all this discussion on the 530G and it being named an Artificial Pancreas is this. Let’s get the product where it needs to be, make it work, make it accurate, make it accessible, educate the end users and the HCP’s, and then less worry about what we should call the wonderful technology.