Sam Finta, “AfrezzaUser” Talks About Inhalable Insulin

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Published on May 7, 2015

Sam Finta, aka AfrezzaUser, spent years being as careful as possible and feeling like “giving up” on his diabetes. Severe depression and anxiety inspired him to seek better means of diabetes treatment, and he was fortunate to obtain one of the last openings in MannKind’s Afrezza drug trial in Atlanta through Dr. Bruce Bode of the Atlanta Diabetes Center.

Immediately and from day one, Sam’s felt his life was changed for the better. Since then, he has done his best through social media (Yahoo message Boards, blogspots and others) to provide honest, genuine and truthful information about his experience with Afrezza. He credits it with saving his life and giving him hope as he wait with countless other people with diabetes to have a near “normal” life again. This is what started Sam’s desire to reach other people with diabetes with his firsthand knowledge of Afrezza.

TuDiabetes Live interview with Dr. Todd Hobbs, Chief Medical Officer for Novo Nordisk

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Todd Hobbs, MD, is chief medical officer (CMO) for Novo Nordisk in North America. In this role, Dr. Hobbs focuses on the implications of diabetes for the company and for patients, for healthcare professionals and for healthcare systems. He provides medical guidance and input to the clinical development and life cycle management strategies for diabetes and obesity-related projects, as well as input into the R&D pipeline and participate in consultant advisory boards.

Dr. Hobbs began his career at Novo Nordisk in 2004 as a Field Medical Scientific Director. In 2010, he moved to the in-house position of Senior Medical Director of Diabetes. Prior to being named North American CMO, he led Medical Affairs activities for all insulin products and devices at Novo Nordisk, including strategy and tactical activities in support of current and future products.

Dr. Hobbs is a physician with a clinical focus in Diabetes. After internship and residency, he established his clinical practice focusing on the intensive management of patients of all ages with diabetes. During his 10 year clinical career based in Louisville, Kentucky, he cared for more than 2,500 adults and children with diabetes, including outpatient, inpatient and intensive care patients. During his clinical practice, he also served as Chairman of the Medicine Department for Baptist Hospital Medical Center in Kentucky.

“At Novo Nordisk, we are intensely focused on the patient experience and are committed to finding solutions to help those living with diabetes achieve their goals,” said Anne Phillips, MD, senior vice president, clinical medical & regulatory affairs for Novo Nordisk. “As a patient and parent of a child living with diabetes, Todd brings a unique perspective and shares our passion for patient centricity.”

His personal dedication to the treatment of diabetes began nearly 25 years ago when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and intensified with the diagnosis of one of his sons with the same condition at the age of 5.

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Uploaded by: Diabetes Hands Foundation
Hosted: youtube

TuDiabetes Live interview with Steven, Devon and Grasshopper, creators of #NoPricks

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Prometheon Pharma launched it’s #NoPricks campaign in order to help bring it’s needle-free insulin delivery patch to market. Here’s their mission statement:

At Prometheon, we foresee persons with diabetes no longer needing to inject themselves daily with insulin. We envision vaccines that will not spoil in hot climates and can be administered easily, painlessly, and inexpensively to impoverished children in developing countries. We imagine once-weekly drug patches for mental health disorders and chronic diseases that maximize adherence to prescribed therapy by greatly simplifying drug regimens. We dream of fields and streams absent of medical waste because biodegradable products and manufacturing processes are created to protect the fragile ecosystems on our planet. Above all, we believe advances in drug delivery and new drug discovery can be made accessible to everyone in the world. At Prometheon, we are devoted to our mission and promise to advance global health equity and improve human existence through the pursuit and translation of scientific discovery.

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Uploaded by: Diabetes Hands Foundation
Hosted: youtube

TuDiabetes Live Interview with Merith Basey, the "100 Campaign"

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Merith Basey, MSc

Merith’s introduction to global public health and Type 1 diabetes was via AYUDA in Quito, Ecuador, following her postgraduate studies on Latin America at La Universidad Complutense in Madrid. She went on to serve as AYUDA’s first Country Officer in Ecuador, later joining the headquarters in Washington DC as Global Program Director, where she was responsible for growing AYUDA’s country programs and strengthening local capacity in Ecuador, Bolivia, Dominican Republic and Belize.

Since 2012, Merith has also worked closely with the diabetes community in Haiti initially in support of the first diabetes education camp for young people with Type 1 diabetes. She is continually seeking ways to help strengthen the work of AYUDA’s partner FHADIMAC (www.fhadimac.org) on the ground.

As a result of almost a decade of witnessing the reality that many children and their families still do not have consistent access to insulin and other diabetes supplies, and disheartened by the lack of global action towards this; Merith and a small team of advocates with experience in diabetes communities in resource poor settings came together to launch the 100 Campaign, with the support of the International Insulin Foundation.

About the Campaign

The International Insulin Foundation (IIF) has been active in the area of Type 1 diabetes in the developing world for 10 years. On World Diabetes Day (November 14th) 2012, the IIF launched the “100 Campaign” with the goal of achieving 100% access to insulin by 2022, the 100th anniversary of insulin use to treat a person with Type 1 diabetes.

Access to Insulin:

While barriers to insulin access are most prominent in resource-poor countries, barriers also exist in other parts of the world. In developing countries the cost of insulin can consume as much as 25% of a family’s income. In the USA some uninsured individuals ration their insulin to save money, and end up in emergency rooms or with avoidable diabetes-related complications. The 100 Campaign was started as a means to address these and other issues related to barriers to insulin access.
Follow us at: facebook/100Campaign
@100Campaign
@100Campaign_esp (in Spanish)

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Uploaded by: Diabetes Hands Foundation
Hosted: youtube

Chief Product Architect of Asante Solutions – makers of the Snap Insulin Pump, Mark Estes

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Mark has over 26 years of medical device experience in both marketing and engineering. Prior to joining Asante, Mark was the Director of Marketing for Advanced Bionics — a Boston Scientific Company. While there, he brought to market the company’s first commercially available implantable spinal cord stimulator for the treatment of chronic pain. Prior to Advanced Bionics, Mark was the Director of Marketing for Medtronic MiniMed. There, he helped develop and launch the Paradigm insulin pump and also helped to integrate Continuous Glucose Monitoring technology into the pump. Before Medtronic MiniMed, Mark worked his way up from Design Engineer to Senior Market Manager at Respironics. To date, he holds over 35 medical device patents. Mark earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and MSIA from Carnegie Mellon University.

SnapPump.com

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Uploaded by: Diabetes Hands Foundation
Hosted: youtube

TuDiabetes Live Interview with John Sjölund, creator of Timesulin

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John has completed the worlds longest cross-country ski race, the largest organised bicycle race in the world, New York half-marathon and multiple triathlons. He uses Humalog and Lantus disposable insulin pens to treat his diabetes with four daily injections of insulin and has great control over his blood sugar levels.

Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Uploaded by: Diabetes Hands Foundation
Hosted: youtube