The 17th meeting of the ATTD conference was held earlier this month in Florence, Italy. This conference is unique in that it provides a world-class platform for clinicians and scientists to present, discuss and exchange insights on the most rapidly evolving area of diabetes technology and treatments. Here are some quick highlights from the conference for everyone involved in the care of people with diabetes.
- Non-invasive CGMS! Know Labs unveiled their new CGM KnowU, which uses spectroscopy and capturing a unique molecular signature. There are currently no FDA cleared similar CGMs in the market, and Know Labs is set to submit data (MARD of 11.1%-lower accuracy than the Dexcom and Freestyle Libre but close to industry standards of "high accuracy")
- New CGMs: Roche joins the ranks with the release of its new CGM, Accu-Check SmartGuide. Several features of this CGM are similar to currently available CGM but with the added need for calibration at startup. The MARD of 9.2% still implies a slightly lower accuracy that the Dexcom and Libre and was based on a 48-patient study, but boasts of pattern recognition and AI within it's algorithm which could be an extremely useful tool for wearers
- Optimal blood sugar control during prolonged fasting, such as during this month of Ramadan, is extremely challenging to achieve. Each year endocrinologists discuss at length different strategies for their patients with diabetes who are on anti-hypoglycemic agents, specially insulin. There have been some published guidelines, and this study with the Medtronic MiniMed 780G had interesting results from a pool of participants fasting this month
- More evidence of the utility of GLP-1s in type 1 diabetes. GLP-1s are currently not approved for use in T1D, although many patients, specially adults with T1D have used a GLP-1 when they had features of insulin resistance or excess weight gain. ADJUST-T1D is a clinical trial assessing once-weekly semaglutide (Ozempic? / Rybelsus?) in adults with inadequately controlled T1D and obesity using automated insulin delivery (AID), or artificial pancreas systems
- Hormone based therapies: There are now several other options in this group of medications. Combinations with glucagon, amylin, PYY and GIP are in various stages of development. Here's a good read on options in the pipeline that target both diabetes and obesity.
- And finally, use of AI to assist in the implementation of screening or T1D. ASSET (AI for Sustainable Prevention of Autoimmunity in the Society; www.asset.healthcare ) is a public/private consortium that was established to contribute to research around screening for type 1 diabetes.
I am excited for ATTD-ASIA which will be held in Singapore towards the end of this year, bringing together experts from the region to contribute to this space.
