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FORGETDIABETES proposes a radically new approach to diabetes treatment

 

FORGETDIABETES will develop an immuno-optimized, fully-implantable, fully-automated, artificial pancreas for intraperitoneal hormone delivery, enabling an optimal glycaemic control for type1 diabetes (T1D) subjects.

 

FORGETDIABETES was chosen in 2019 EIC Pathfinder call (FET Proactive: emerging paradigms and communities, FETPROACT-EIC-05-2019), in the subtopic category of Implantable Autonomous Devices and Materials. The groundbreaking  outcome FORGETDIABEES proposes is a bionic invisible pancreas, which will free T1Dsubjects from therapeutic actions and from related psychological burden. The bionic pancreas will become a life-condition (like wearing glasses), allowing subjects to live just as everybody else.

T1D subjects require daily insulin injections to maintain blood sugar levels under control.

As the research team pointed out in the proposal: “The current  therapy requires the patient to compute and self-inject an appropriate amount of insulin, resulting in multiple daily procedures (including painful finger-pricking and frustrating computation) with a therapeutic effectiveness that strongly depends on the patient’s skill.It has been estimated that only about half of the patients meet the targets recommended by the scientific societies clinical guidelines despite the exorbitant number of therapeutic actions (100 000-500 000) in one patient’s life.”

While new technologies, in particular subcutaneous glucose sensors and insulin pumps, have improved the T1D quality of life, the therapy remain extremely demanding in the sense of its strict regime, and it affects the everyday life of the patient. The FORGETDIABEES technology will entirely eliminate this burden.

An interdisciplinary team with top experts in micro-nano mechatronics, modeling, control engineering, biomaterials, endocrinology, surgery and behavioural sciences has been assembled to develop what was regarded as impossible for decades: a long-lasting system relying on a physiological glucose sensing and hormone delivery, orchestrated by personalized adaptive algorithms with advanced self-diagnostic capabilities. Pump refilling through a weekly oral recyclable drug pill will free T1D subjects from the burden of painful and awkward daily measurement and treatment actions. Wireless power transfer and data transmission to cloud-based data management system round-up to a revolutionary treatment device for this incurable chronic disease. In this project, the key technologies enabling the bionic invisible pancreas will be developed. Furthermore, extensive in vivo pre-clinical experiments along with massive in silico testing will establish the proof-of-principle, paving the way to the ambitious first-in-human inpatient trial. This paradigm will revolutionize diabetes treatment and stimulate an innovation ecosystem including research bodies, SMEs, patient organizations, diabetes societies and clinicians.

The project starts in October 2020 and will run for 54 months, until March 2025.The coordinating institution is Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy, and the team is composed by : University of Padova, Padova (Italy), Department of Women & Child Health; Sant’Anna  School of Advanced Studies, Pisa (Italy), Institute of Biorobotics, and WaveComm, SME, Siena, (Italy) for bioingenering developments; Lifecare, SME, Trondheim (Norway) for the devleloping a miniaturized implantablel sensor; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier (France) ; Pfützner Science & Health Institute GmbH, Mannheim (Germany), and Forschungsinstitut der Diabetes-Akademie Bad MergentheimBad (Germany) for the preclinical & clinical developments, and evaluation of the psychological impact.

▪ See the list of the projects that were chosen in the 2019 Pathfinder calls.
▪ See also the article about the ongoing Pathfinder (FET Proactive) calls for proposals.

Background information
FET-Open and FET Proactive are now part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot (specifically the Pathfinder), the new home for deep-tech research and innovation in Horizon 2020, the EU funding programme for research and innovation.

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Information on personal-data processing by the FORGETDIABETES website

Information pursuant to Articles 13 and 14 of EU Regulation 2016/679
Pursuant to Articles 13 and 14 of EU Regulation 2016/679 on data protection (GDPR), we inform you that the personal data you provided voluntarily to the University of Padova will be processed by adopting suitable measures to ensure their safety and confidentiality in full compliance with the GDPR.

 1. Purposes and methods of data processing 

1.1. Navigation data. 
The information systems that run the FORGETDIABETES website (forgetdiabetes.eu) automatically acquire on a daily basis some of the personal data transmitted when web communication protocols are used. If these personal data are processed with data held by third parties, they could identify users and/or visitors. These personal data include the IP address and computer domain names used to connect to forgetdiabetes.eu. These data are normally collected for anonymous statistical surveys and are used to make it easier to navigate forgetdiabetes.eu.

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1.3 Purposes and storage of data 
Collected data are processed for statistical analysis for the sole purposes of improving services; therefore, they will be stored for the minimum time needed to perform a service.

1.4. Data processing
Your data will be processed manually, as well as by electronic and automated means, for the following purposes in accordance with the limits and conditions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679: collection, recording, organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

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5. Contact details of the Data-protection officer
You can contact the University’s Data-protection officer at: [email protected].

Updated on: 31 May 2019