JDRF partners with Tidepool, awards Beta-O2 research grant

JDRF and Tidepool recently announced a partnership for data access technology for people with type 1 diabetes who use insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors through a device-agnostic cloud platform, according to a press release.

“JDRF is pleased to collaborate with Tidepool and to further technology to help reduce the burden of managing type 1 diabetes,” Derek Rapp, president and CEO of JDRF, said in the release. “We are committed to ensuring that the data software available is safe, convenient and offers reliable access. This new data platform will allow anyone to upload data easily and share with health care providers or others to ensure better monitoring and less work for people with [type 1 diabetes]. We are excited about the potential for this real-time accessible information, which will bring us one step closer to JDRF’s goal to progressively remove the burden of [type 1 diabetes] from all of our lives.”

JDRF will provide funding for Tidepool’s “Universal Device Uploader,” which will make it easier to access and integrate data from various type 1 diabetes devices, according to the release. Further, Tidepool’s “Blip” application will help make visualizations more accessible and intuitive as well as allow for a better flow of patient and doctor communication. The Tidepool platform with help with improvement in artificial pancreas development, allowing researchers to focus on algorithms, trials and effectiveness.

“We’re so excited to be partnering with JDRF on the development of Tidepool’s Universal Device Uploader,” Howard Look, founder, CEO and president of Tidepool, said in the release. “In the short term, this will make it much easier for people with [type 1 diabetes] to access their diabetes device data in a vendor-agnostic way. Over the longer term, this signals a new era data being liberated from diabetes devices. This will enable a new wave of software that is easier to use, enables grater engagement, more effective therapy and new types of research that were not possible before.”

JDRF also has awarded Beta-O2 a $500,000 grant to help fund a $1 million pilot human study of its (beta)Air bio-artificial pancreas. The study will evaluate safety, survival and function of the implanted human islets of Langerhans in the system for 2 years in eight patients.

“Imagine if those with type 1 diabetes no longer had to worry about insulin injections or glucose levels,” Dan Gelvan, PhD, chairman of the board of Beta-O2 and managing director of life science at Aurum Ventures, said in a press release. “They could eat what they wanted, exercise as they wished and need not measure every step they took. This is the future that Beta-O2 envisions (beta)Air will help to create.”