Insulin Pens and Insulin Cartridges Must Not Be Shared
An alert to health care professionals reminding them that single-patient insulin pens and insulin cartridges should not be used to administer medication to multiple patients due to the potential risk of transmitting blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and the hepatitis viruses (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
FDA Poised to Review Two New Drugs for Type 2 Diabetes
The FDA has announced that starting in early April, its Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee will begin looking into two new drugs for type 2 diabetes: saxagliptin tablets from Bristol-Meyers Squibb and liraglutide, an injection drug from Novo Nordisk (Diabetes Health)
NHS Information Centre ‘Supporting Diabetes Care’ brochure
A(9-page PDF) brochure looking at the information on diabetes provided through The NHS Information Centre , and also about the National Diabetes Information service (NDIS) which will bring together all diabetes data and resources from a variety of sources and organisations (NHS Diabetes)
New toolkit could improve hospital care for diabetes
Five NHS trusts have been trialling the ThinkGlucose toolkit, which aims to help staff improve patients’ experience while in hospital (netdoctor, UK)
Product recall – insulin pen injection devices
The following faulty insulin pen injection devices are being recalled: Owen Mumford Autopen® Classic (1 unit 3ml), 1-21 units. Product code: AN3810. Affected lots: CJF, DBR, DEX, DMP, DND BRG and CCW (Diabetes UK)
The metabolic syndrome: Insulin resistance
This review provides an update on the relationship between insulin resistance and main components of the metabolic syndrome: hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity (Current Hypertension Reports)
LEAD 3 shows promising results for liraglutide plus glimepiride
Moderate doses of liraglutide combined with glimepiride provide better glycemic control along with a more favorable weight profile than rosiglitazone plus glimepiride or placebo, report investigators from the LEAD (Liraglutide Effect and Action in Diabetes) 3 study (MedWire)
LifeScan Diabetes Management for Apple’s iPhone
Just the other day Apple unveiled its new iPhone 3.0 operating system, and presented some new interesting applications for the device. LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company focusing on tools for diabetics, showed off a prototype system for diabetes management on the iPhone (medGadget)
The GlucaPen, a big improvement on Glucagon shots
A simpler way to give people Glucagon injections. Enject hope to have the pen on the market before long (Diabetes Technology Blog)
Diabetes Voice
March 2009 (IDF)
Updated BNF guidance on subcutaneous insulin infusion
Guidance on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion has been updated in BNF 57 (Diabetes Specialist Library)
Updated BNF guidance on oral antidiabetic drugs in pregnancy
Guidance on the use of oral antidiabetic drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes during pregnancy and breast-feeding, has been updated in BNF 57 (Diabetes Specialist Library)
Computerised self-test for type 2 diabetes
Doctors have developed a computerised test for predicting the risk of type 2 diabetes based on information in patients’ electronic health records (Computer Weekly)
Ethnic Background Matters for Type 2 Diabetes
The prevalence of diabetes is at least twice as high in some ethnic groups as it is in whites, even among people with similar body mass index (BMI) numbers, a large new study finds (Center for the Advancement of Health)
Breath test may recognize prediabetes, early-stage diabetes in at-risk individuals
A standard infrared breath analyzer was successful in detecting differences in the excretion pattern of glucose-derived breath carbon dioxide between individuals with prediabetes/early-stage diabetes and those with normal glucose tolerance (Endocrine Today)
Genetic Association between the Interleukin-2 Receptor-{alpha} Gene and Mode of Onset of Type 1 Diabetes in the Japanese Population
The present data confirm the type 1 diabetes association with IL2RA and provide evidence that the different contributions of the IL2RA in the susceptibility to acute-onset and other forms of type 1 diabetes in the Japanese population (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism)
Biotec Pharmacon ASA (NO) – Completed Patient Inclusion in the First Phase III Diabetic Ulcer Study
Biotec Pharmacon should be ready to announce results from the study in the fourth quarter 2009 (PharmaLive)
Medical device alert
Risk of insulin underdosing with affected lots of Owen Mumford Autopen Classic insulin pen injection devices (National electronic Library for Medicines)
Change in how HbA1c results are reported
The way in which HbA1c results are reported in the UK is changing. From 31 May 2011, HbA1c will be given in millimoles per mol (mmol/mol) instead of as a percentage (%) (Diabetes UK)
Is diagnosing metabolic syndrome a uniquely simple way to predict incident type 2 diabetes mellitus?
Irrespective of the definition used, metabolic syndrome was as effective as impaired glucose tolerance in predicting incident type 2 diabetes mellitus among Aboriginal Canadians in a 10-year follow-up study (CMAJ)
Detection of Undiagnosed Diabetes and Prediabetic States in High-risk Emergency Department Patients
Consideration should be given to referring ED patients with risk factors and a random glucose > 155 mg/dL for follow-up testing (Academic Emergency Medicine)
MannKind files inhaled insulin Afresa with FDA
MannKind Corp has submitted a New Drug Application to regulators in the USA requesting approval of Afresa, its inhaled insulin drug (PharmaTimes)
New guidelines released for evaluation, management of hypoglycemic disorders
Endocrine Society’s evidence-based guidelines describe recommendations for patients with, without diabetes (Endocrine Today)
Low GI sugar hits the market
Branded LoGicane, it’s digested slower than regular sugar, making it better for diabetics and those fighting obesity (ABC, Australia)
Glycosmedia is also available as an App: