Re: [IP] Profit Potential in the Insulin Pump Market (Was Pump Protector)
> So, my question to you is: Is there any hope whatsoever for a
> closed-loop
> system? I had been so hopeful - even without doing much research - I
> guess just pie-in-the-sky speculating, but you certainly make my hopes
> plummet.
>
There is no hope whatsoever for a closed loop system at all unless it
is implanted or their is a major breakthrough in insulin technology
that would allow insulin to be fully absorbed in minutes rather than
hours. The big difficulty is the necessity to have a regulating
equation that will drive the servo loop that matches the blood
glucose sensor reading to the insulin delivery mechanism. At the
moment neither the glucose sensor technology or the insulin delivery
mechanism provide reliable enough or rapid enough response to do
that. The math just does not work.
Marketing of current technology "talks" about closing the loop but in
reality what they are really saying is that a "recommended" dose
level can be calculated if certain factors are not inculded in the
calculation and it will be up to a human to verify the it is
appropriate and safe. Again.... the issue is that insulin takes so
long to be absorbed unless it is delivered directly into the blood
stream or peritonial cavity that large changes can occur in blood
sugar levels (both high and low) before that absorbtion is complete.
This raises the very real possibility that the proposed delivery
system could and would deliver massive amounts of insulin to bring
down a high and conversly would not deliver any insulin until to late
for a low or for food. The time delay does not allow the servo loop
to be closed.
Michael
.
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