Missouri Senator Visits Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill has been a supporter of diabetes research, particularly related to JDRF, since the very beginning of her term. She has funded efforts to get more tax dollars into institutes of health projects and is now part of senators asking the FDA to allow open human trials regarding diabetes testing and research.

McCaskill dropped by the Crestwood JDRF offices in early January to receive a group thank you for her support of the Artificial Pancreas Project. According to the JDRF, APP has the potential to be the most revolutionary advance in treating type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes since the discovery of insulin in 1922.

Marie Davis, executive director of JDRF, said that the ongoing project has been approved by the FDA for extended human trials. (There were trials in a hospital setting and now trials are approved outside of a hospital setting.) 

The pancreas pump is the first part of the project. 

“There’s a pump that infuses insulin drip by drip all the time just like a natural pancreas does and then when you eat something you dial it up to give it additional insulin just how your natural pancreas does,” Davis said.

The second piece of the project is a continuous glucose monitor and that’s where every 5 minutes it takes a reading of glucose level in your blood stream. Therefore users can catch the change as they go high or low and do something about it. 

“It not only has the infused insulin available, it also tests the blood. It takes the human error out of the process,” Davis said. “It’s not just a convenience factor, it’s really a life-saving factor and the sooner you can catch a high or low the less likely you are to have complications of other organ damage.”

JDRF meets with state representatives twice a year, once in their district and once in Washington D.C. JDRF leads the research agenda to slow the progression of diabetes complications in the newly diagnosed, reversing it in people who have lived with the disease for years and is moving forward to prevent the disease in people at risk and in future generations.

For more information contact JDRF at 314 -729-1846 or visit jdrfstl.org.