Savvy Updates 12/15/25 | The Savvy Diabetic

In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:

Dexcom G6 To Be Discontinued on July 1, 2026
FDA Clears Updated Algorithm with Lower Target Glucose for Omnipod 5
Zucara Therapeutics & Sanofi Develop Therapeutic to Prevent Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia
Aging With Type 1 Diabetes: Over 80% of T1Ds in America Over Age 45

Dexcom G6 Will Get Discontinued in 2026 – What The Community is Saying by Itzel Estrada for Diabetech.info, 10 December 2025.

FDA clears updated algorithm with lower target glucose setting for Omnipod 5 by Michael Monostra for Healio.com/endocrinology, 8 December 2025.

The FDA cleared an updated algorithm for a hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system that permits users to set a lower target glucose.  The new algorithm is expected to launch in the U.S. during the first half of 2026, according to the Insulet press release.

In the most recent FDA action, the agency granted 510(k) clearance for an algorithm that will allow target glucose to be set as low as 100 mg/dL. Users will be able to select six new glucose targets in 10 mg/dL increments between 100 mg/dL and 150 mg/dL.  Additionally, the updated algorithm will help users remain in automated mode with fewer interruptions, including during prolonged periods of high glucose, according to a press release issued by the company.

“These enhancements to the Omnipod 5 algorithm are a meaningful step forward,” Anita Swamy, MD, pediatric endocrinologist and medical director of the Chicago Children’s Diabetes Center, said in the release.

Read more: FDA clears updated algorithm with lower target glucose setting for Omnipod 5

Sanofi Ventures team up to advance clinical trial simulations by Anthony Vecchione for MobiHealthNews.com, 2 October 2025.

Zucara Therapeutics announced that Sanofi made a strategic investment in the company as part of its $20 million Series B financing. Sanofi received an exclusive right of first negotiation. Proceeds from the financing funded Zucara’s Phase 2a trial of the effect of ZT-01 on nocturnal hypoglycemia events in Type 1 diabetes (“T1D”) mellitus (“ZONE”) and the nonclinical activities to support a once-weekly version of ZT-01.

Zucara Therapeutics is developing ZT-01, a first-in-class, once-daily therapeutic to prevent insulin-induced hypoglycemia in patients using insulin therapy. ZT-01 is designed to inhibit somatostatin, a pancreatic hormone that impairs the glucagon response to hypoglycemia in people with insulin-dependent diabetes. ZT-01 restores glucagon secretion to prevent hypoglycemia, potentially dramatically changing diabetes disease management and improving both patient health and quality of life. Zucara’s initial focus is on the prevention of nocturnal hypoglycemia, which is of significant concern to both patients with T1D and their caregivers.

“Our technology is aimed at creating the first treatment to prevent dangerous low blood sugar by restoring the body’s ability to counter-regulate hypoglycemia. This approach will reduce the likelihood of insulin therapy to cause hypoglycemia without affecting its efficacy. The immediate patient benefits would include the reduced occurrence of hypoglycemia and its associated acute symptoms and effects. This in turn would allow diabetic patients to more aggressively treat themselves with insulin, resulting in better overall health outcomes in the long term.

The approach is to block somatostatin type 2 (SSTR2) receptors on α-cells in the pancreas, which are stimulated at a higher than normal level by somatostatin during hypoglycemia in insulin-dependent diabetic patients. The effect of this dysregulated somatostatin on α-cells is to suppress glucagon secretion, which results in the insulin-dependent diabetic patient being unable to avoid or recover from hypoglycemia.”

Read more:

Aging With Type 1 Diabetes: Success Story Brings Challenges by Miriam E. Tucker for Medscape.com, 11 December 2025.

Growing old with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a relatively new positive phenomenon, thanks in part to more physiologic insulin formations and increasingly sophisticated glucose management technology. Such advances have dramatically reduced acute and chronic complications that historically shortened life expectancy. A recent publication from Breakthrough T1D highlights how dramatically the demographic has shifted, as just 13.3% of the 1.5 million Americans with T1D are children younger than 20 years, while most are between the ages of 45 and 65, and can expect to live much longer.

With greater longevity, people with T1D are developing age-related physical and cognitive deficits that can compromise their ability to perform the complex self-management tasks the condition requires. Many lack family support or healthcare professionals trained to step in when necessary.  Some older adults with T1D may outlive their spouses, and many never had children, partly because earlier generations of women with T1D were advised against pregnancy. At the same time, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and nursing homes often lack expertise in T1D management. Some privately owned facilities even exclude those with the condition or charge them higher fees.

Even endocrinologists rarely receive formal training in this area, said Irl B. Hirsch, MD, professor of medicine and medical director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.  “This is a population that didn’t exist 30 years ago,” he told Medscape Medical News. “There are no studies assessing blood glucose, blood pressure, or lipid targets, let alone how does cognition change after 60-70 years of T1D.”

Medha Munshi, MD, director of the Geriatric Diabetes Program at the Joslin Diabetes Center and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, has long been concerned about this gap.  “I don’t think people understand how complex it is to manage aging issues with type 1 diabetes,” she told Medscape Medical News.  Recognizing the need, Munshi founded the International Geriatric Diabetes Society (IGDS) in 2019.  Munshi was the lead author of the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) 2016 Position Statement on diabetes management in long-term care and skilled nursing facilities and the ADA’s 2025 Standards of Care chapter on older adults with diabetes.  In addition, she serves as a member of a small ADA working group on older adults with diabetes, which has recently gained momentum. Chaired by Chalisa A. Nuzhat, MD, the group hosted an invitation-only event during the 2025 ADA Scientific Sessions and aims to expand to a larger event in 2026. They are also working toward establishing an official professional interest group.

The ADA’s efforts parallel advocacy within the T1D community. In 2024, T1D blogger Joanne Milo, who was diagnosed in 1965 at age 10, founded a group called “T1D to 100” and has launched a website and a Facebook community. The moves came after encountering troubling lapses in T1D awareness during her own hospitalizations, such as staff asking whether she used insulin. Indeed, Munshi and Nuzhat both noted that they frequently must remind hospital staff never to withhold insulin in people with T1D.  “Many with T1D are frightened about who’s going to take care of us,” Milo told Medscape Medical News. “As we get older, nobody knows what to do with us, to comprehensively take care of us, and make sure we’re safe as we approach the end of life.” She added, “We need to educate ourselves and advocate for ourselves, and we need to educate the caregivers how to deal with us. We’re not as cute as the 10-year-olds and we’re far more complicated. We take more time. How do we prepare for our future?”

Read more: Aging With Type 1 Diabetes: Success Story Brings Challenges