A DIY ‘bionic pancreas’ is changing diabetes care
I absolutely love this development. Who better to take charge here than the people directly affected? They are as motivated as any to get it right, not because of a financial incentive but because their life is in the most literal sense at risk of getting it wrong. Of course the big players will all push the fear button, but that should be contrasted with the simple fact that they all have had (sometimes multiple) recalls.<p>Do not underestimate how hard it is to do this right, the people that built these DIY solutions have spent a ton of effort on them, probably more than the equivalent commercial players. But long term my prediction would be that the DIY movement will lose out. The competition has massive lobbying power, a lot of funding and looks like the safe option to outsiders, especially when there is feature parity. The main driver for this development was a simple one: all the parts were out there, but nobody was willing to take the plunge and build a closed loop system and have it certified. But that impetus is now gone and future improvements will be much higher hanging fruit.<p>But I&#x27;d love for them to stay around to keep the industry on its toes. Especially because commercial interests are always going to maximize profits, which for a disease that is so widespread and that affects so many lives should not be a factor. Incidentally: a modern insulin pump is a work of art, if you don&#x27;t know how they work and you fancy technology I would encourage you to have a look at this.