A DIY ‘bionic pancreas’ is changing diabetes care
Insulin lowers blood glucose, which of course is a vital tool. However, there appears to now be shelf-stable glucagon [1], a hormone which can be injected similarly to insulin and raises blood glucose levels.<p>AFAIK there is only one company, Beta Bionics [2], that is working on commercialization of such technology with dual pumps. In this case, you could be more aggressive in either direction of pushing BG, because you have a safety net.<p>Because this feels like a holy grail &#x2F; functional cure, I&#x27;m surprised the incredible DIY teams out there haven&#x27;t trained their guns on doing this. Having both &quot;turn it up&quot; and &quot;turn it down&quot; knobs seems so much more valuable than squeezing the last 5% of efficacy of AID systems. I feel like glucagon is obviously &quot;the answer&quot;, but I don&#x27;t see much talk about it.<p>Is the problem that there is no hardware for dual hormone pumps? I would have thought by now they&#x27;d have hacked 2 patch-pump AIDs to work simultaneously.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.medscape.com&#x2F;viewarticle&#x2F;947962" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.medscape.com&#x2F;viewarticle&#x2F;947962</a>
[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thejdca.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;2023&#x2F;06&#x2F;05&#x2F;fda-approves-beta-bionics-insulin-only-device-what-about-dual-hormone-" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thejdca.org&#x2F;article&#x2F;2023&#x2F;06&#x2F;05&#x2F;fda-approves-beta...</a>