Diabetes Technology Inches Closer To An Artificial Pancreas

"Every person who uses insulin to manage diabetes wants what they don't have — a replacement for their malfunctioning pancreas. And though the technology isn't yet to the point of creating an artificial pancreas, it's getting a lot closer."

"Just last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a mobile app-based system that can monitor a person's sugar levels remotely. Parents can monitor a child's sugar while she or he is in school, for example, providing greater peace of mind."

"That technology is the latest step in an evolution aimed at letting people manage diabetes without the burden of calibrating insulin doses themselves. So far we have devices that deliver insulin and devices that continuously monitor blood sugar. Getting those two pieces of equipment to talk to each other would make the process safer and simpler. That's the technology that people really want. And that's starting to happen."