Dual-hormone artificial pancreas ‘next logical treatment’ for type 1 diabetes

Adults with type 1 diabetes may be able to maintain their glucose levels in target range longer, particularly during the day, by using an artificial pancreas with rapid-acting insulin and pramlintide, according to findings published in Diabetes Care.

“Since adding pramlintide to the artificial pancreas targets postprandial hyperglycemia, the rapid insulin-and-pramlintide artificial pancreas may be the next logical treatment in patients approaching, yet not achieving, HbA1c targets despite using the insulin-alone artificial pancreas,” Ahmad Haidar, PhD, assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering and an association member of the department of medicine and division of experimental medicine at McGill University in Montreal, and colleagues wrote.

Haidar and colleagues assessed how frequently a cohort of 28 adults with type 1 diabetes (mean age, 25 years; 43% women) were able to maintain blood glucose levels between 3.9 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L during 24 hours using artificial pancreas systems that delivered either rapid insulin plus pramlintide (Symlin, AstraZeneca), regular insulin plus pramlintide, or rapid insulin alone. Blood glucose was measured at 10- to 30-minute intervals, according to the researchers, who noted that there was a roughly 2-week “optimization period” prior to each study visit depending on the system to be used, with the researchers randomly assigning the order in which participants used each pump system.

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