Insulin pump that responds to blood sugar big step to artificial pancreas

Doctors are reporting a major step towards an "artificial pancreas", a device that would constantly monitor blood sugar in people with diabetes and supply insulin as needed.

A key component of such a system - an insulin pump that shuts down if blood-sugar dips too low while people are sleeping - worked as intended in a three-month study of 247 patients.

This "smart pump", made by the American company Medtronic, is already sold in Europe, and the US Food and Drug Administration is reviewing it now. Whether it can be programmed to mimic a pancreas and constantly adjust insulin based on continuous readings from a blood-sugar monitor requires more testing, but doctors say the study suggests it is a realistic goal.

"This is the first step in the development of the artificial pancreas," said Dr Richard Bergenstal, diabetes chief at Park Nicollet, a clinic in St Louis Park, Minnesota. "Before we said it's a dream. We have the first part of it now and I really think it will be developed." He led the company-sponsored study and gave results on Saturday at an American Diabetes Association conference in Chicago.

The study involved people with Type 1 diabetes, the kind usually diagnosed during childhood. About 5 per cent of the 26 million Americans with diabetes have this type. Their bodies do not make insulin, a hormone needed to turn food into energy. That causes high blood sugar and raises the risk of heart disease and many other health problems.

Some people with the more common Type 2 diabetes, the kind linked to obesity, also need insulin and might also benefit from an artificial pancreas. But for now, it is aimed at people with Type 1, who must inject insulin several times a day or get it via a pump with a narrow tube that goes under the skin. The pump is the size of a cellphone and can be worn on a belt or kept in a pocket.