Innovations in drug delivery never stop and, over the past 12 months or so, a wide variety have come under the spotlight.
Constant progress continues in the diabetes space, both in the form of insulin delivery and other drug delivery methods. Elsewhere, we see implants, patches, syringes and more showcasing just how many ways we can deliver therapeutics.
About a year ago, we clued in readers to a list of six drug delivery innovations they should know. Here, we provide a couple of updates on those and try to introduce a few more developments that you should know:
The latest in automated insulin delivery tech
Automated insulin delivery represents one of the most high-profile markets in drug delivery, with the technology providing potentially life-saving therapy for people with diabetes.
Last year’s roundup included the already FDA-cleared Omnipod 5 automated insulin delivery system from Insulet. At the time, the also-mentioned Medtronic MiniMed 780G remained uncleared, although that since changed.
There’s still plenty of innovation going on in this market, though, and a few more automated insulin delivery systems made waves since.
Earlier this month, Tandem Diabetes Care won FDA clearance for its new Tandem Mobi automated insulin delivery system. Tandem says Mobi, which is fully controllable from a mobile app, is the world’s smallest durable AID system. It features a 200-unit insulin cartridge and an on-pump button to provide an alternative to phone control for insulin boluses. It comes in at less than half the size of the existing Tandem pump system, the t:slim X2 pump.
In May, the FDA cleared the Beta Bionics iLet ACE automated insulin pump and iLet dosing decision software. Beta Bionics’ iLet Bionic Pancreas uses an adaptive, closed-loop algorithm. It initializes with the user’s body weight and requires no additional insulin dosing parameters. The algorithm removes the need to manually adjust insulin pump therapy settings and variables.
While Omnipod 5 marked Insulet’s progress in automated insulin delivery last year, the company is already picking up steam with another offering. In April, the FDA cleared Omnipod GO — a long-acting insulin delivery system for the basal-only insulin population.
Keep an eye out for Tidepool Loop (partnered with BD diabetes spinoff Embecta) and Ypsomed (partnered with Abbott and Dexcom CGMs) as well.
Read about the remaining seven innovations at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.