Major Milestone in Communications Standards for Diabetes Devices

JDRF and the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto announced publication of interoperability standards for diabetes devices. The work is the result of  JDRF Canadian Clinical Trial Network (JDRF CCTN) funding to Dr. Joseph Cafazzo at UHN to pilot the development of standard communication protocols that define how diabetes devices, such as insulin pumps, blood glucose meters, and continuous glucose monitors, communicate with one another and with other devices.

Until now, proprietary communications systems developed by major manufacturers made it difficult for researchers to build upon existing technologies, particularly across different platforms. These proprietary systems have also limited possible innovation from others considering development of artificial pancreas systems and new diabetes data management tools.

The newly published standards set a definition of communication between continuous glucose monitor devices and their linked managers, such as personal smartphones and computers. The goal is to enable interoperability by establishing consistent data protocols and universal understanding of device data. This in turn is anticipated to accelerate research and development in the area of the artificial pancreas systems and impact how patients use diabetes technology for years to come.

“This is a long-awaited milestone for manufacturers, researchers, and for people with diabetes,” said Dr. Cafazzo, principal investigator of the JDRF CCTN-funded project. “There are now defined, open standards where previously none was available. This will ultimately accelerate the ability of companies to produce new technologies for the improved management of diabetes and for developing artificial pancreas systems.”

“This project was supported by JDRF to accelerate the development of artificial pancreas systems, which have the potential to transform the management of type 1 diabetes,” said Aaron J. Kowalski, Ph.D., vice president of JDRF Artificial Pancreas Research. “Artificial pancreas systems require effective communication among pumps, sensors, and controllers, so we are very happy to at last have standard communications protocols in place. Now, there is one less hurdle facing the development and commercialization of artificial pancreas systems and bringing these systems to people living with type 1 diabetes.”

The group at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation collaborated with key stakeholders from industry, academia, and healthcare providers to develop the interoperability standards within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) Personal Health Devices Working Group. The new standards also work with the Bluetooth Special Interest Group Profile for Continuous Glucose Monitoring to ensure that the device data can also be transmitted to medical records databases in clinics.  

Biomedical engineers Nathaniel Hamming and Melanie Yeung of the University Health Network made key contributions towards the development of the communication standards. Mr. Hamming served as Vice Chair in the development of the CGM standards (IEEE-11073-10425), and both members contributed to the publication of optimized exchange protocol (IEEE-11073-20601). The standards have been reviewed and approved by the IEEE Personal Health Devices Working Group.

As a next step, JDRF is partnering with the Helmsley Charitable Trust to fund a project to promote the adoption of the new communications standards by diabetes device manufacturers. The goal of the new effort is to accelerate the development of fully interoperable diabetes technologies for use in artificial pancreas systems. This initiative is part of the broader JDRF/Helmsley collaboration to fund the creation and enhancement of technology that supports automating insulin delivery.