Valeritas, a medical technology company which developed a Wearable Insulin Delivery device called V-Go, has announced that it presented the data demonstrating the effectiveness of the device at the Annual International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. The company said that its device was found to be effective in terms of glycemic control, insulin use, and healthcare cost compared to multiple daily injections (MDI) of insulin therapy among people with type 2 diabetes.
The wearable device is a simple, economical, all-in-one insulin delivery option that can be worn like a patch. It continuously administers insulin through the day, eliminating the need for taking multiple insulin shots daily.
According to the study, 71% of those who switched from insulin injections to the V-Go device achieved an HbA1c of below 64 mmol/mol (8%) or a reduction in HbA1c of at least 1%.
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V-Go has been especially designed for people with type 2 diabetes and addresses the fact that some people with type 2 do not like giving themselves injections at meal times. The device therefore negotiates some of the benefits of an insulin pump.
For their study, lead researcher Howard Courtenay Harrison Jr., MD of Endocrinology Consultants in Virginia, and colleagues recruited 89 participants with type 2 diabetes to try the device. The mean age of the participants was 59 years.
Among the participants, 84% had previously been injecting insulin at least twice a day and had HbA1c levels of 64 mmol/mol (8%) or above.
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After undergoing treatment for 15 weeks, the participants reported a reduction in mean insulin total daily dose requirements.
“We attribute this success to improved insulin adherence as well as to insulin being continuously infused and readily available for bolus dosing,” said the researchers.
The team said that the V-Go could turn out to be a valuable piece of kit to help people control type 2 diabetes because even a small reduction in insulin could help people with diabetes.
“These positive data add to our growing body of evidence demonstrating the clinical and economic benefits of V-Go as compared to multiple daily injections of insulin for individuals with type 2 diabetes,” said John Timberlake, President and Chief Executive Officer of Valeritas. “Helping patients lower their blood sugar is the primary objective but equally important is achieving these results with less insulin and lowering diabetes-related medication costs.”
