In February, CIM travelled to Madrid, Spain to take part in the 2020 Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) conference. We took in as much as we could and shared through both Instagram and Twitter in real time, but, of course, there was way more that we wanted to pass on. Today, we’re taking the time to share key learnings from the conference. You can also read about updates from Dexcom, Abbott, Medtronic, and Omnipod.
Disclaimer: Tandem Diabetes Care covered the author, Jen’s flights and hotel during the conference. She facilitated a pre-conference workshop for Tandem Diabetes Care and as part of her compensation, an ATTD conference registration was provided.
Disclaimer: Please check out CIM’s Partners Page to learn more about the companies we work with. This post was not paid for and does not represent sponsored content, but it’s important to recognize that we may be biased based on the fact that some companies highlighted below support CIM in different ways. We still thought this info was important for you to know about.
Summary: There has been a lot of exciting buzz related to Tandem’s recent launch of Control-IQ, it’s hybrid closed loop system in the US and the launch of Basal-IQ, the low glucose suspend technology recently launched in Canada. Highlights from the 2020 ATTD conference relate to:
- Control-IQ use for youth 6-13
- Comparison of Control-IQ and Basal-IQ Time in Range outcomes
- Remote-update user data review
- The Tandem Pipeline
Note: Depending on what country you are accessing this blog from, the Tandem website will direct you to appropriate webpages. As such, it’s difficult for folks in, say, Canada to access information directly from Tandem related to product only currently available in the US, like Control-IQ. As such, we’ve linked to blogs and articles (largely from the great folks at diatribe) for the best learning experience!
Currently Tandem’s Control-IQ is approved in the US for people 14 years of age and older, which made the data from the DCLP-5 study being presented at ATTD extra exciting. In this study by the Barbara Davis Center, looked at the use of Control-IQ in children 6-13. In this age group, time in range increased a whole 14% – that’s nearly 3 and a half hours/day when Control-IQ was being used. The results of this study may help pave the way for Control-IQ to be approved in the younger T1D population.
Another interesting study from ATTD was an extension of the Control-IQ study that helped pave the way to FDA approval of the system in the USA. In this trial, approximately half of the Control-IQ users in the original 13-week trial moved to Basal-IQ (which suspends insulin delivery when the users BGs are predicted to be low) while the other half stayed on Control-IQ for 13 additional weeks. Perhaps not surprisingly, Time in Range decreased from 70% to 60% in the group that moved to Basal-IQ caused largely by more time spent with high BGs above 10.0mmol/L (180mg/dL). This will be interesting to keep an eye on as we see more and more individuals gaining access to hybrid-closed loop systems and, as has been reported, largely decreasing their diabetes burden and time spent thinking about diabetes care. We wonder how much more challenging management would be for someone who has experienced a hybrid closed-loop system and then moves ‘back’ to a more simple management regime. Would our diabetes management become harder than it was before we experienced the decreased diabetes that has been reported by those on the more advanced systems? Hmmm…
In Canada, Basal-IQ just recently became available on the Tandem tslim X2 insulin pump. Tandem’s pump allows for remote software updates. Both Canadian and American Tandem users have recently been provided the opportunity to use the feature, with updates to Basal-IQ and Control-IQ available respectively in the past months. At ATTD, study results were presented showing that the average time taken by 14,000 Basal-IQ updaters in the US was just 5½ minutes. Not a shabby turn around time to totally update your pump!
Although nothing was officially released or discussed formally at ATTD related to Tandem’s pipeline with its smaller t:sport pump, outlined in the company’s 2019 industry updates, we wanted to include some information here as we’ve learned this future product is news to lots of folks in the Type 1 community. The t:sport pump is Tandem’s ‘patch’ pump and is planned to be half of the size of the current t:slim X2 insulin pump, yet still hold 200 units. The pump will use a remote device or mobile app as a controller and have a very short piece of tubing and infusion set. This will allow the user to choose an infusion set that works for them. Also interestingly, the pump will feature a bolus button to allow for insulin delivery, even when the mobile app or remote is out of range. The t:sport is planned to be launched with the Control-IQ algorithm. Keep an eye on this product on the horizon!
Throughout the conference, we were able to get some questions answered that the community had sent our way for Tandem. You can check these questions and answers out on CIM’s Executive Director, Jen’s Instagram Story Highlights.
To learn more about what Tandem Diabetes Care has on the go and to stay updated, visit their websites:
Canada: https://www.tandemdiabetes.com/en-ca/home
USA: http://tandemdiabetescare.com/
