DEKA president Dean Kamen, right, who invented the first portable insulin pump in the 1970s, talks about the technology of its successor, twiist, with Alan Lotvin, CEO of Sequel Med Tech, the company created to develop and market the new product, which is being manufactured in Manchester. (Photo by Mike Cote)
April 30 was “twiist” day in the Manchester Millyard.
The first people with type 1 diabetes to use a new portable insulin pump developed by a Manchester company, outside of a clinical trial, are some its own employees.
Kate Eyre Sandfoss, who joined Sequel Med Tech in August as director of direct-to-consumer marketing, was among the eight employees who posed for a photo at the company’s 50 Commercial St. headquarters to celebrate wearing their new twiist devices, which use advanced technology to manage insulin intake.
“My background is in consumer marketing, and I came from the CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry,” Sandfoss said. “When I saw Sequel was launching and they had a consumer marketing role, I thought, my goodness, how cool would it be to marry my personal and professional life.”
Sequel Med Tech was launched two years ago to market the successor to a device that entrepreneur Dean Kamen introduced more than 40 years ago when he invented the world’s first portable insulin pump.
An example of that product, the AutoSyringe, is housed in a glass display case inside the entrance to Kamen’s DEKA headquarters. It’s rather clunky looking and has control knobs and switches with a plastic syringe attached to the front.
The twiist weighs less than 2 ounces and is the shape and size of an Oreo cookie.
Beth Dziengelewski, director of commercial learning and development for Sequel Med Tech, demonstrates how Type 1 diabetes patients use twiist, a portable insulin pump the size of an Oreo cookie that uses advanced technology, rather than gears and motors, to monitor and control the flow of insulin. (Photo by Mike Cote)
People who use twiist will appreciate its size and ease of use, but what’s most important, Kamen says, is the device’s ability to precisely monitor how much insulin its user needs.
“We’re the only people in the world that have a system that actually can tell what’s going on,” Kamen said.
Advances in sensor technology allow that to happen.
“Now that we have sensors, you want to close the loop and say, ‘If every time that sensor tells me what my blood glucose is, I can precisely adjust my insulin delivery,’” Kamen said.
The pump, which runs off a lithium-ion battery, works with a continuous glucose monitor made by Abbott. Users operate twiist through an iPhone app; the twiist loop algorithm is built into the pump. Half of the “cookie” is a disposable cassette that houses the insulin, which holds up to 300 units.
The automated delivery system is powered by Tidepool, which the nonprofit describes as the first fully interoperable automated insulin dosing app. Tidepool originated as a patient-led initiative and has been cleared by the FDA.
“From a communication standpoint, all of these components — the pump, the sensor, the app — are all communicating via Bluetooth,” said Beth Dziengelewski, director of commercial learning and development, during a demonstration.
The twiist system will be covered by most commercial insurance plans and be available at retail pharmacies by prescription. Eligible participants in the U.S. will be able to use twiist for free for the first month and no more than $50 thereafter, the company said.
Sequel Med Tech, which already employs 240 people, expects to launch twiist later in the second quarter. The device is being produced in the Millyard at Merrimack Manufacturing, a company Kamen founded a couple of years ago.
Kate Eyre Sandfoss, director of direct-to-consumer marketing at Sequel Med Tech, was among eight employees with type 1 diabetes who celebrated April 30 for being among the first people to use twiist, which uses advanced technology to manage insulin intake. (Courtesy photo)
Sequel Med Tech board member Bill Doyle, who has been working with Kamen on various projects since the ‘90s, is among the investors in the company, which was created specifically as a vehicle to launch twiist.
“This was not a product development exercise, where a few million dollars gets you to the next prototype or the prototype after that,” said Doyle, executive director of Novocure, a medical device company in Portsmouth. “This was a full national launch to bring this to the entire U.S. diabetic community first, and then ultimately the international community.”
During the launch event, CEO Alan Lotvin addressed the dozens of Sequel Med Tech employees who were gathered in a meeting room to celebrate. He talked about how quickly the company has ramped up and how much was at stake as Sequel aims to disrupt the marketplace with what he said was the first innovation the sector has seen in 25 years.
“Everything that we’re doing is for someone who is either newly diagnosed or newly trusting us with their health. So not to make you feel, not putting pressure on you: Don’t mess it up,” Lotvin said, drawing laughter from the group. “They’re trusting us with something that’s irreplaceable, and we’re privileged to have that.”
