Basically they’ve come up with insulin analogs that are faster acting, ones that are longer lasting, and even ones that “lock” themselves so they can’t be absorbed without a high enough presence of glucose
The most significant insulin development in recent years is glucose reactive insulin.
I would argue that any development short of GRI is not significantly different than any other insulin treatment. You have to take insulin and either regulate how much insulin you take for how much sugar you consume, or regulate how much sugar you consume too match how much insulin you’re taking.
The intervals/amounts differ, even methods of administration differ, but they are not drastically different.
GRIs actually regulate blood glucose “automatically” like a pancreas would. Which makes treating diabetes with a GRI, not dissimilar to treating any other condition that requires a single dose of medication every day. You take the medicine and go about your business, not giving your condition a second thought in your day to day activities. That’s huge.
This is all well and good, however, GRIs are little more than a lab experiment at the moment. Human trials are set up begin in 2025 sometime.
So my point stands, make insulin cheap, let people live for a few more years until they can see the release of GRIs; where there is a real, tangible change in how they manage their condition.
Everything else, is just variations on the same, bad, theme.
My brother has used so many different brands and types of insulin, from long-acting to short, in vials, pen-like dispensers, and even a couple pumps… They’re all varying levels of bad. The least bad has been the pumps, but the pump isn’t dependent on what brand or type of insulin you use… It’s a tool to make it easier to manage the amount of insulin being recieved at any given time. Everything else is little more than a difference in labeling.
Basically they’ve come up with insulin analogs that are faster acting, ones that are longer lasting, and even ones that “lock” themselves so they can’t be absorbed without a high enough presence of glucose
Here’s a paper comparing a bunch of them. I’m no expert and it’s a deep rabbit hole, but there are a bunch of options, each with their own trade-offs
The most significant insulin development in recent years is glucose reactive insulin.
I would argue that any development short of GRI is not significantly different than any other insulin treatment. You have to take insulin and either regulate how much insulin you take for how much sugar you consume, or regulate how much sugar you consume too match how much insulin you’re taking.
The intervals/amounts differ, even methods of administration differ, but they are not drastically different.
GRIs actually regulate blood glucose “automatically” like a pancreas would. Which makes treating diabetes with a GRI, not dissimilar to treating any other condition that requires a single dose of medication every day. You take the medicine and go about your business, not giving your condition a second thought in your day to day activities. That’s huge.
This is all well and good, however, GRIs are little more than a lab experiment at the moment. Human trials are set up begin in 2025 sometime.
So my point stands, make insulin cheap, let people live for a few more years until they can see the release of GRIs; where there is a real, tangible change in how they manage their condition.
Everything else, is just variations on the same, bad, theme.
My brother has used so many different brands and types of insulin, from long-acting to short, in vials, pen-like dispensers, and even a couple pumps… They’re all varying levels of bad. The least bad has been the pumps, but the pump isn’t dependent on what brand or type of insulin you use… It’s a tool to make it easier to manage the amount of insulin being recieved at any given time. Everything else is little more than a difference in labeling.