Do you wish you could more easily manage your diabetes on the go?  Wouldn’t it be great to have your CGM data displayed on your iPhone or Blackberry or Android? Well, a guidance document published in draft form by FDA addresses just this issue.  The “Mobile Medical Applications” guidance document attempts to define how this type of software will be regulated by FDA.  While there are a few areas we think the agency can be more clear in the guidance, we are glad to see FDA addressing this issue and hope that knowing FDA’s thoughts in this area will spur development of more tools for people with type 1 diabetes.  JDRF will be submitting comments to FDA about this guidance and we urge you too as well.  Tell FDA what you think of mobile apps for diabetes and the guidance by the deadline of Oct 19^th.

Our research team is thinking a lot about mobile apps.  JDRF sees apps as holding the potential to significantly advance the way people will manage their diabetes.  To support this growing field, JDRF has an initiative to advance communication standards for diabetes devices, so diabetes devices can communicate safely with smartphones, tablets, watches, and other commercial devices.

Some of the areas we are most interested in are the display, control, and communication of diabetes devices and getting the information to smartphones.  Once the information is on a smartphone, diabetes management will become more discrete while at the same time opening up a world of opportunity.  You could view glucose levels, determine insulin requirements and make dosing decisions, track your treatment, and share all of this information seamlessly with the people that help with and matter most to your care.  You could send alerts and alarms automatically to parents or caregivers, and receive helpful advice when needed.  We look forward to providing updates on JDRF’s efforts in helping this become a reality.

Also, don’t forget about our Artificial Pancreas Campaign! You can join us by submitting a petition to the FDA asking them to advance, not delay, the development of an artificial
pancreas.