In 2023, Dr. Paul Wadwa has authored the first paper in NEJM on Control-IQ in young children and Dr. Greg Forlenza has authored the first paper in JAMA on use of Verapamil to prolong islet survival in new onset diabetes. The BDC team conducted the FDA approval studies for the Medtronic 780G, Tandem Control-IQ, Insulet OP5, and Beta Bionics iLet. We anticipate that by the end of the year there will be four excellent automated insulin delivery systems on the market in the United States and all were developed and studied as part of the work of our team at BDC.

Verapamil is a calcium channel blocker medication originally FDA approved in 1981 to treat heart arrhythmias which is also used to treat high blood pressure. Basic science studies showed that it also inhibits a protein necessary for cell death in islets due to high blood sugar. Our on year randomized controlled trial funded by JDRF showed that it helped significantly improve islet survival. It is a once daily oral medication for which the generic costs $8-12 per month even without insurance.

The Medtroinc 780G with Guardian 4 CGM is the first Advanced Hybrid Closed Loop device from Medtronic. The system achieves >70% time in target range for the average user without the need for finger-stick testing. It also has an advanced algorithm to detect if a meal has been eaten without the user blousing and then minimize hyperglycemia after the meal. The Adult Diabetes Clinic under Dr. Satish Garg and the Pediatric Diabetes Clinic under Dr. Robert Slover conducted the FDA approval testing on the system resulting in FDA approval of the ACHL algorithm and the updated sensor.