Sensor Initiative Supports Medtronic Diabetes in the Quest for the Artificial Pancreas

Medtronic isn't trying to sugarcoat the situation: Development of an effective and optimal artificial pancreas system to treat patients with type 1 diabetes requires a lengthy, iterative process and improvement of multiple technologies. But the medical device industry leader is making progress on the path toward commercialization of this much-anticipated product, thanks to technology advancements and a recently announced partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in collaboration with the Helmsley Charitable Trust (HCT) focused on improving continuous glucose monitoring accuracy and reliability.

Launched in an effort to accelerate the development and delivery of more-accurate and reliable continuous glucose sensors, the JDRF-HCT Sensor Initiative has partnered with Medtronic to support and accelerate progress in the medical device manufacturer's orthogonally redundant sensor system. Improvements in continuous glucose sensing are considered to be instrumental in driving development of future artificial pancreas systems, which consist of an external insulin pump, a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), and algorithms that determine the necessary insulin delivery.

"One of the most critical topics that we need to address to bring an artificial pancreas to market is improving CGM accuracy," notes Amanda Sheldon, a spokesperson for the diabetes business at Medtronic. "That's why this partnership is so important. It focuses on exploring two unique sensor technology platforms--the electrochemical sensor used in CGM systems today as well as an optical sensor--to provide accurate, actionable glucose values."

Medtronic's orthogonally redundant sensor combines both the commonly employed electrochemical sensor, referred to as a glucose oxidase (GOX sensor), and an optical sensor into one device. This approach, according to Medtronic, serves to create a 'check and balance' system to ensure safety and reliability of the system for diabetes patients. Such advanced sensing technology is necessary for the development of next-generation, fully automated artificial pancreas systems that demonstrate the potential to enhance diabetes treatment and replace the need for multiple daily injections.

While Medtronic continues to pursue technological advancements for the artificial pancreas system, the path to commercialization is a long one. "We are approaching the commercialization of an artificial pancreas by developing the technology in several iterative steps, such as Threshold Suspend automation--which is currently available outside of the United States in our Paradigm Veo product--treat to target range, overnight closed loop, and then, ultimately, a fully closed-loop system or artificial pancreas," Sheldon says. "Each of these steps typically takes about two years to bring to market." --Shana Leonard

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