Medtronic’s ‘artificial pancreas’ doesn’t fix biggest problems for diabetics

The newly approved “artificial pancreas” from Medtronic, the MiniMed 670G, has been labeled as a revolutionary device for managing type 1 diabetes. Others, however, call it a letdown.

That’s the label given by Vox’s Julia Belluz. She writes about patients who call the device “overhyped” since its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September, noting it only automates delivery of basal insulin and does nothing about the rising cost of insulin which has forced diabetes patients to skip or cut back on doses.

“I hate [the name],” Melinda Wedding, whose 13-year-old daughter Carson has type 1 diabetes, told Vox. “It gives the connotation that the problem is solved, when it’s far from solved.”

The limitations of the device include the usual concerns about potential errors from sensors and pumps. But because it doesn’t automates delivery of bolus insulin, patients will still need to do the usual work to even out glucose levels after eating, like counting carbohydrates.

“You still have to do a lot of the mental calculations, so it's not fully automated and it's not alleviating a lot of the decisions we make to treat our daughter,” Wedding said.

For more on why doctors and researchers consider the device just an incremental step in making type 1 diabetes easier to manage, click on the link below: