The History of Diabetes Tech

I went to Medtronic headquarters in LA to learn about the history of diabetes technology and the journey to an artificial pancreas. I spoke with Ali Dianaty, Medtronic's Senior VP of Product Innovation and Operations about the first backpack-sized insulin pump, early Minimed pumps, an implantable insulin pump, the first continuous glucose monitors and more! Would you like to see more videos like this? Have you used this tech? Let us know in the comments ⬇️

Medtronic paid for travel expenses of this trip, but had no control over the production or reporting in this video. HUGE thank you to the Medtronic team, Alex Adams and Toby for shooting/directing, and Georgi Goldman for your guidance.

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*DISCLAIMER: My videos are not medical advice. Always consult with your doctor before making changes to your health care.*

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Chapters:
History of Medtronic - 01:31
Early Blood Glucose Meters - 03:16
First Insulin Pump Backpack - 04:26
The AutoSyringe Pump - 06:04
Implantable Insulin Pump - 08:30
First CGMs - 13:23
Automated Insulin Delivery Systems - 15:26

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[diabe_tech]

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[angiezagelow]

So interesting, thank you! I have been T1 for almost 50 years and I remember when I was 8 and went to a diabetic camp and people were using glucometers. I was horrified, I didn't want anything to do with more poking. When I hit junior high, I carried around a brick in my backpack and the glucose tests would take about 3 minutes to complete. Got my first Medtronic pump in 1996. We've come a long way...can't wait to see what comes out in the next couple years.

[Byefriendo]

Its wild that the very first pump basically did what the forefront of modern pumps is still trying to do, just was very bulky.

[Selenezz]

I've been T1 for 35+ years and I wore the first CGM for a week when it came out & got me really excited for the improvements that followed after. I *think* my first pump was a 507 and I definitely wore the Paradigm which actually helped me through a high risk pregnancy & I wore a pump for 20 years after that. My kid grew up thinking that the alerts were music that would randomly play & he'd actually sing them sometimes. LOL

I was also told that implantable pumps were like the islet cell transplant and you couldn't have it unless you were also getting a kidney transplant. Education about medical improvements is so incredibly important for doctors to keep getting.

I've been off because of insurance issues but I'll be getting back on in a few months & I'm so excited. Sick of taking 6-8 shots a day. It certainly makes you appreciate these modern marvels & Medtronic.

[kaddiddlehopper]

In my opinion, aside from insulin development, continuous glucose monitors are the single most important diabetes tech development to have been created. You can have good numbers with any technology, doesn't matter if it's pump or mdi or pill, but only if you know what your numbers are. You don't have a clue what your blood sugar graph looks like in relation to food and activity until you have a cgm. No amount of training will replace this real time information.

[gee_on_wheels]

I am not diabetic, but I am disabled (wheelchair user with Cerebral Palsy and Autism). I'm really fascinated when it comes to past and future medical devices / Medicine. I really enjoyed this video. I hope you can make some more

[jvmiller]

I wonder just how many lives medtronics have saved. I had a device for bladder incontinence in 2004 but it got infected and had to come out. I now have a metronics gastric pacemaker for gastroparesis that has changed my life forever.

[niwwwx]

Currently doing a research on diabetes monitoring evolution, this vid helped a lot!

[LERJizz]

Very interesting and well put together video. As a nurse and NP I truly appreciate it.
Thanks.

[jeffhendley]

Great content and interesting. I worked at Pacesetter Systems with Al Mann back in the day selling pacemakers to cardiologist. He and his son were both instrumental in pacemaker and diabetes technology. His time with NASA also brought all types of technologies to the medical industry, ie telemetry. FYI, I started watching your channel because my granddaughter has T1 and I am interested in the latest and greatest technology that might make her life easier. Keep up the good work.

[l-l]

Awesome video. I'm not diabetic, but love learning about random tech and engineering topics. Your enthusiasm was contagious and this video was an insightful watch. Medical technology is such an interesting topic and sadly so many companies are pushing for unrepairability and planned obsolescence. I hope someday the open source community is able to take on big players in the medical technology industry and offer cost effective alternatives to expensive hardware.

[michas]

It's interesting to see history of science, how come we improve!

Thank you for creating this educational videos

[brendaparker]

Very interesting to see history, hopeful for more!

[theresamelvin]

Enjoyed this video so amazing how far we have come when i reflect on my first diagnosis and the the choices available to what im using now so lucky we are at this amazing technology well done for this

[kaitlynkennedy]

This is such a cool video! Thank you for making it.

[solomonkushner]

I'm not sure if you are having a follow-up with them, but I'm wondering - Why can't they implant the tubing for the current pumps into the peritoneal cavity and create a port that external pumps connect to? So they would only put the tubing of the pump in the body, and the only risk would be infection (although they have ports for cancer treatment and others- so I'm sure they have solutions for this). This would prevent scar tissue that comes with insulin injections and allow all the benefits of an internal pump like quicker speed for insulin to work, while also removing the biggest issue of external pumps - site issues. Genuinely curious if you can ask.

[lorilorsch-kjmg]

I would like to know more of the bio inlet. I will support your show.❤

[latainethomas]

Yhank you for taking us along to learn more I loved loop but then chose Omnipod 5 still keep up with loop

[rayoflight]

CGM should be a standard for every diabetic, both 1 and 2. Here in the UK the socialised healthcare system only pay for test strips, and the care plans and procedures are developed around a SINGLE blood sugar measurement in the morning.
Btw, even with a cgm and manual injections, you can only hope to keep the blood sugar in a range of 80 - 180 mg/dL. The CGM has a 10-15 minutes delay, and the insulin injection takes another 15 or so minutes to act, so you can only keep the Blood Sugar reading within a windows, not a single value of say, 80 mg/dL.
Anyway here in the UK we use an archaic unit of measurement for blood glucose, i.e. mmol/L - multiply by 18 to get the mg/dL reading.

[mktegaki_e]

Not mentioned in the video but the improvement from a 3 day CGM needing multiple calibrations a day to a 7 day one only needing very few has been a huge thing for me. I attempted to use a 3 day one in college where I also worked a fast food job, I could never step away to calibrate it when it beeped like every other hour, so it was completely useless to me The upgrade to a 7 day CGM with 2 calibrations per day years later was a huge relief and helped me keep my blood sugar in check for a healthy pregnancy. Now Im on the Medtronic Guardian 4 with 780G pump which has an ever better Smart Guard mode and less calibrations required and I'm doing so much better, and think it will help pregnancies even moreso!