On this episode of Diabetes Connections In the News…
A new basal insulin is available, researchers are working on a “cloak” designed to protect transplanted insulin-producing cells, Retatrutide isn’t even approved and it’s already the subject of lawsuits, tandem moves to pharmacy and more!
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Transcript:
On this episode of Diabetes Connections In the news…
A new basal insulin is available, researchers are working on a “cloak” designed to protect transplanted insulin-producing cells, Retatrutide isn’t even approved and it’s already the subject of lawsuits, tandem moves to pharmacy and more..
that’s coming up right after this.
(AD BREAK)
Welcome! I’m your host Stacey Simms and this is an In The News episode.. where we bring you the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now. A reminder that you can find the sources and links and a transcript and more info for every story mentioned here in the show notes.
Well remember back a few weeks ago when I said August was my chance to recharge and refresh, I was home for the first time this year for a longer stretch? Well man plans and god laughs, baby. I was diagnosed last week with suspected cyclosporiasis – my doctor say I had empirical symptoms which thankfully have gotten beter after antibiotics. But the testing takes so long that as of this recording, almost a week after the dx, I don’t actually have the results.
Sharing not to gross you out but to say if I owe you an email if you’re waiting on something from me.. it’s coming. How can you help? Just share our stuff please. MNO and Club 1921!
Okay.. our top story this week:
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The first once-weekly basal insulin is now available in the US. We’ve been following Awiqli for quite some time now.. Novo Nordisk says it: offers adults with type 2 diabetes an alternative to daily basal insulin injections, reducing frequency of these weekly basal injections from seven to one per week. Awiqli® will be available at over 70,000 pharmacies nationwide if you go through NovoCare.com, where eligible patients can pay as little as $35 per month
Awiqli® is approved in the US, EU, and 13 additional countries
It’s not approved for type 1. Novo had initially submitted to the FDA for that indication but ultimately took it out of the final submission.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/novo-nordisks-awiqli-the-first-once-weekly-basal-insulin-for-adults-with-type-2-diabetes-now-available-in-the-us-302847645.html
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A new testing method may be able to predict which children will develop symptomatic type 1 diabetes up to five years before diagnosis. OTraces analyzed existing data from more than 1,100 children in the long-running TEDDY study – a multicenter prospective cohort study that has followed roughly 8,676 genetically at-risk children from birth since 2004 – specifically to study how type 1 diabetes develops and reported predictive accuracy above 92% at some time points. The method uses several established type 1 diabetes autoantibodies along with OTraces’ own technology to analyze the results. However, the findings have not been peer-reviewed or tested in a study that follows new patients over time, and the method is not FDA approved. For now, the results are promising but preliminary and will need independent testing to see if they hold up.
https://biobuzz.io/news/a-small-diagnostics-company-says-it-can-predict-type-1-diabetes-years-before-symptoms-start-the-data-hasnt-been-peer-reviewed-yet/
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A Swedish study that followed people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as children for more than 30 years found high rates of eye and kidney complications. About 85% developed diabetic retinopathy, or damage to the blood vessels in the eye, while 45% developed signs of kidney damage. The longer someone had diabetes, the greater their risk of retinopathy, while older age was more closely linked to kidney problems. Important to note that this study included about 100 people diagnosed as kids from 1981 to 1992 and higher A1Cs correlated with higher risks.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/duration-and-age-tied-risks-different-complications-type-1-2026a1000rde
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Researchers at Penn State have developed a thin coating that could protect transplanted insulin-producing cells from the immune system. The hydrogel “cloak” is designed to hide donor cells while still allowing them to release insulin and control blood sugar. In diabetic mice, coated cells restored blood sugar to healthy levels within a week, and most animals remained diabetes-free for more than 100 days without ongoing immune-suppressing drugs. Those drugs are currently needed with some islet cell transplants and can cause serious side effects. The research is still in the animal-testing stage, so much more study is needed before the approach could be tried in people.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cell-invisibility-cloaks-side-effect.html
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A team of public health researchers from institutions in Australia and the US has now identified a link between access to green space – particularly private gardens and parks – and the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The researchers used data from more than 400,000 participants in the UK Biobank, determining the incidence of type 2 diabetes from hospital records with a median follow-up of 15.4 years. They also used the OS MasterMap Greenspace Layer to determine UK residents’ access to public and private green spaces.
Generally, the more green space that surrounded people’s homes, the lower their type 2 diabetes risk.
People with substantial private gardens within 100 meters (328 feet) of their home (and, presumably, access to their own garden) were 6.8 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people in the lowest quartile when it came to having gardens in their radius.
People were also 5.7 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes if there were four or more parks in their neighborhood.
Curiously, whether parks were within walking distance didn’t seem to matter much.
This is an observational study, which means it can only identify associations, not establish a cause. My first thought is affordability and income, but there’s no indication these researchers looked a property values here.
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More to come…
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Eli Lilly files six lawsuits against businesses selling what it calls “black market” retatrutide. The new obesity drug has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but that hasn’t stopped people from selling unapproved versions.
These lawsuits include companies that sell so-called “research-only” peptides online. Unapproved products may be contaminated, contain too much or too little of the active ingredient, or be counterfeit products that contain none at all.
Retatrutide is currently in phase three clinical trials. Because it targets three hormones — GLP-1, GIP and glucagon — it’s more powerful than GLP-1s already on the market.
However, since retatrutide isn’t FDA-approved, compounding it, repackaging it or selling its active ingredient to compounders is illegal, the FDA says.
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/13/g-s1-138594/eli-lilly-files-6-lawsuits-against-businesses-selling-black-market-obesity-drug
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Tandem is shifting supplies into the pharmacy channel, and it seems to be going well. They expect 70% of total sales to be through pharmacy by 2029.
The company has contracts with the three major PBMs (covering ~80% of lives) and is pursuing a pay-as-you-go model with a working net-price assumption near $350/month and plans that could let patients obtain a pump at no cost to lower adoption barriers.
Tandem says it’s still on track to launch Mobi tubelss in the second half of the year.. They have submitted it to the FDA.
Tandem Diabetes Care seeing early benefits of new pay-as-you-go model
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Worth noting that the last of the big summer conferences – ADCES – has wrapped up. This conference is for educators and doesn’t usually bring out but studies like ADA but we’ll follow up in the weeks to come.
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Breakthrough T1D has launched its 2026-2027 Breakthrough T1D Run season to bring the community together and raise awareness and funds for critical T1D research.
Breakthrough T1D Run provides access to some of the most exciting and challenging endurance races across the globe, including all Abbott World Marathon Majors. During the 2026-2027 season, Breakthrough T1D Runners will participate in 10 major events around the globe, including:
TCS Sydney Marathon, Aug. 30, 2026
Ragnar Reach the Beach Relay, Sept. 11-12, 2026
BMW Berlin Marathon, Sept. 27, 2026
Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Oct. 11, 2026
TCS New York City Marathon, Nov. 1, 2026
Tokyo Marathon, March 7, 2027
United Airlines NYC Half, March 14, 2027
TCS London Marathon, April 24-25, 2027
Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, May 23, 2027
In addition to the marathon events, Breakthrough T1D offers an option for all who want to support Breakthrough T1D through a run of their choice. Breakthrough T1D My Run allows participants to join the effort in their own way by selecting a course and setting their own goals. This can include self-defined distances and courses or existing local race events and can be completed solo or with others. Individuals can join Breakthrough T1D My Run at any time.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/breakthrough-t1d-run-20262027-season-launches-uniting-runners-worldwide-to-fund-type-1-diabetes-research-302849450.html
