2 April 2021 – Inreda illustrates studies with the AP
Dear reader,
Welcome to our first news letter in 2021.
In this news letter, we would like to tell you about the studies that we have performed. These studies have already been completed, but we did not stand still since then and we are going on with developing the device. Now and in the future, we will continue performing studies for different kinds of purposes. Always striving to make the artificial pancreas available for everyone who is in need of it. And to optimize and refine the device perpetually.
At the beginning of this year, the results of the APPEL 5 (CE) study have been published. This means that the study is entirely finished. Read more about the findings, the aim and the conclusion of this research by Publication results APPEL 5 study.Furter, during the last semester of 2020, AmsterdamUMC (Academic Medical Centre) and has performed a pilot study with the Inreda AP. In this study, people who developed diabetes because their pancreas was removed (diabetes type 3), have used the Inreda AP. Although the analysis is not yet finished, we already would like to tell you about it. To read more, please go to Study APPEL5+ for people with diabetes type 3.Finally, one of our collegues is put in the spotlight and will tell you something about himself. Besides clinical studies, we also do research for a more ergonomic and user-friendly design. Our Collegue in the Spotlight will tell you more in the last item.
Enjoy reading!
Team Inreda
Publication results APPEL5 study
In the first week of January this year, Diabetes Care (medical scientific magazine published by the American Diabetes Association) has published the results of the APPEL5 (CE) study.
Title: Fully Closed Loop Glucose Control With a Bihormonal Artificial Pancreas in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: An Outpatient, Randomized, Crossover Trial
Authors: Helga Blauw, A. Joannet Onvlee, Michel Klaassen, Arianne C. van Bon, and J. Hans DeVries (Amsterdam UMC location AMC, Inreda Diabetic, Rijnstate hospital Arnhem)
Aim
The aim of the study was to demonstrate the performance and safety of a bi-hormonal (insulin and glucagon) artificial pancreas in adults with type 1 diabetes. In this randomized cross-over study in a home situation, a 2-week fully closed-loop glucose control (AP treatment) was compared with 2-week open-loop control (the patient’s normal insulin pump treatment with a glucose sensor if they had one).
Performance
A total of 23 patients were included in the analysis. With the AP, the mean time in range was 86.6% while it was 53.9% during the control period. Except for one patient, the AP yielded an improvement in the time in range for all participants. Because the AP continuously measures and regulates the blood glucose, tailor-made insulin is dosed much more often, so that the final time in range is higher than if an insulin bolus is only given at specific times. Especially during the night (between 0:00 and 7:00am) the AP was very well able to regulate the blood glucose: an average time in range of 97.1% compared to 48.1% during the control period.
Conclusion
Compared to insulin pump treatment, the bi-hormonal artificial pancreas significantly improves glucose control, with no announcements of meals or exercise, and the treatment was safe in adults with type 1 diabetes.If you want to read the full article, please use this link:
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/44/3/836
Study APPEL5+ for people with diabetes type 3
In this pilot study performed by Amsterdam UMC, people who developed diabetes because their pancreas was removed, used the Inreda AP. The feasibility study took place in September last year and the main study (the closed loop period) in October and November. The entire study was completed on November 13, 2020.During the feasibility study, two participants used the Inreda AP for five days and this went very well. One of the aims of the feasibility period was to investigate how the procedures for the study can be improved. Then the main study started in which twelve participants used the Inreda AP in the so-called closed loop period. Before or after the closed loop period, the participants performed the control part of the study, in which they were followed during their own treatment.
The closed loop period of the main study was successfully completed by ten study participants. Participants’ responses were mixed: the participants were very enthusiastic about improvements in glucose control, but there were also participants who found using the AP more work than expected. The preliminary results paint a positive picture; the data is now being analyzed even further.
Colleague in the spotlight
Who are you
I am Mickael Boulay. In 2012, I graduated from the Design Academy in Eindhoven, in Man & Well-being. After my studies I worked at Waag Society in Amsterdam. I was affiliated with the Creative Care Lab, which deals with projects primarily focused on healthcare, such as low-cost prosthetic legs and a new interface for Inreda’s AP. Later, I started working part-time and then full-time at Inreda.
What do you do?
At Inreda I am now responsible for the Design department. This relatively new department supports Inreda in the field of design and customer experience to ensure a great and consistent Inreda customer journey (that is the entire journey of a customer: from ‘not yet being a customer’ to ‘using the AP daily’). Our motto is user-centered design: people come first and that is applied on all fronts. So, of course, used for the design or user-friendliness of the artificial pancreas, but also for the associated services, training materials, printing, website and other digital environments, etc. In addition, we explore, within various projects (often in collaboration with external partners) , future opportunities to further improve the use of the AP and the customer experience.
Do you have a passion for something?
The human. The human being is the starting point, the basis. It gives me a lot of energy to continuously involve people (such as customers and healthcare professionals in the case of the AP) in the process of shaping and applying innovations in a human way. This is crucial, especially when it comes to an innovation such as the AP, which is a new approach to diabetes treatment and the relationship between humans and devices. We always focus on people’s experience first and use our creativity to translate this experience into products and services. When it comes to true innovation, there is always a kind of ‘tension’ between what people expect (based on what they know themselves) and what people will experience in the future. So we take people into the process: interviewing, understanding each other, devising and discussing creative scenarios, and making demos and prototypes to show and experience that possible future. With the aim of getting feedback and striving for the best end result.
What do you do in your spare time?
.I like to do a lot of creative things with my kids, like building crazy things from Lego. I also like to go mountain biking in the woods. Sometimes I go alone, but more and more often with my son (we call that an ‘expedition’, with sandwiches and all!).
How did you get a job at Inreda?
I started at Inreda from my previous work at Waag Society. In 2013, I watched television with my colleagues and saw a man who said that he had ‘just’ built an artificial pancreas. This was Robin Koops, at the table at the live talk show ‘De Wereld Draait Door’ (the world turns and turns). We thought it would be nice to talk to him and to contribute to that. We called him and agreed to work on the user interface of the artificial pancreas. To be able to do that and to strengthen the then still small team, I went 1 or 2 days a week from Amsterdam to Inreda in Goor. Later, I switched full-time to be able to contribute even more to this innovative challenge!
Has something fun, crazy or memorable happened at work?
After all the developments at the AP in recent years, it is now being used as a new treatment in collaboration with a number of hospitals and a health insurance company. The AP is now used, as we speak, by people in everyday life. When I look back on this we have done a lot, and when I look to the future: we want to achieve even more and make the device available to even more people! This is what drives me (and I think everyone at Inreda) to start your work full of energy every day and do the best to go one step further!
What do you do in 5 years time? What is your goal?
As said, we want to do a lot more! I want to take more and more steps in many design-related areas. Think of the portability and ergonomics of the device, the user-friendliness (for new target groups, such as children and their parents), but also with regard to the current and future services and tools around the AP. These are also implemented with the same mindset as the AP. In addition to the functioning of the AP as a treatment, all these aspects will become increasingly important due to the role they play in the customer’s experience. I look from my expertise and background and see that Inreda has a special image. People are very enthusiastic about the AP, but also about Inreda as a company. I would like to contribute to the fact that, as we grow as a company, we maintain and perhaps even deepen our unique characteristics. I expect that in the future, using the experiences of our customers and our drive to perform best, we will build a lasting relationship with our customers (and of course all stakeholders such as healthcare professionals). With the aim of ultimately continuously realizing the best care and experience together.