A New Pump Gives Diabetics New Hope
By: Gwyn Bevel
Updated: January 16, 2013
Type 1 diabetics need insulin everyday to deal with their disease, but the lifesaver comes with a potentially deadly side effect.
Now a new system aims to keep patients safe.
For 18 years, Heidi Button has needed insulin to lower her blood sugars and to stay alive, but like most type 1 diabetics, she fears her blood sugars could go too low.
One in 20 diabetics will die of a low blood sugar. That's 411 people everyday. That is where the new technology comes in.
If a patient doesn't respond to a low blood sugar alarm, the VEO pump automatically shuts off insulin delivery for up to two hours.
The device has helped Heidi when her alarm didn't wake her up.
Doctor Ruth Weinstock says the VEO could save lives.
The VEO pump has wrapped up phase three trials and is expected to get FDA approval sometime this year.
Doctor Weinstock says it is already being used in Europe.
She believes this system is one of the first steps toward an artificial pancreas that could automatically regulate insulin levels.
