Pancreum – the Wearable Artificial Pancreas Company – is working on making life with diabetes really more convenient by developing a revolutionary artificial pancreas.
The Pancreum wearable artificial pancreas system – called Genesis - can manage and effectively regulate the glucose level with limited (or without) input from the user. The system has five components: The PDA (Personal Diabetes Analyzer), the CoreMD, the GlucoWedge continuous glucose monitor, the BetaWedge insulin pump and the AlphaWedge glucagon pump. In addition, an ultra intelligent algorithm that resides in the PDA provides safe and reliable adjustments to the insulin and glucagon delivery. If research proves necessary, other substances such as cortisol or adrenaline could replace glucagon in the AlphaWedge.
The CoreMD is the "brain” and has an open platform architecture so that other devices in an artificial pancreas system may be developed in parallel by other companies, shortening the product development cycle significantly. It has a high-performance 32-bit CPU, is Bluetooth-enabled and can be coupled with Android, iPhone/iPod Touch, Windows Mobile or Blackberry smartphone but doesn’t have to. The core unit is not disposable, no electronic boards and batteries are thrown away every other day. This means, for example, that its attached replaceable insulin pump only contains the reservoir and the mechanisms to insert the cannula and deliver insulin.
The CoreMD and GlucoWedge accurately check the glucose level every 4 minutes, 24 hours a day. The GlucoWedge measures the glucose in the interstitial fluid and the CoreMD passes the information to the PDA via a Bluetooth wireless link. The PDA uses its leading-edge algorithm to calculate new insulin and glucagon basal or bolus delivery requirements. It then sends commands back to the CoreMD, which adjusts the insulin pump BetaWedge and glucagon pump AlphaWedge's delivery rates. This algorithm adapts to the individual's metabolic needs. Each person's unique needs change according to activity, stress, and hormone levels. A set of parameters entered by the user guarantees the system's accuracy.
The vision is to develop a system that is capable of automatically avoiding hypoglycemia, affordable, safe, environmentally friendly, flexible and unobtrusive. An electronic/software prototype will be available in Q4 2011. Watch the video below to get a first impression of Pancreum's work:
