Savvy Updates 5/11/2026 | The Savvy Diabetic

In this week’s issue of The Savvy Diabetic:

Glucotrack seeks FDA approval for clinical study of CBGM technology
Biologics and Sunshine Lake Pharma announce FDA Approval of LANGLARA™
Diabetes-related complications: an evolving spectrum
Mini-Dosing Glucagon
The Most Dangerous Place for Your Diabetes Might Be the Hospital
WAY Off-Topic … Technology Enables Three-Sided Zipper Design

Glucotrack seeks FDA approval for clinical study of CBGM technology by GlobalData.com, 8 May 2026.

Glucotrack has submitted an investigational device exemption (IDE) application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking approval to begin a clinical study in the US for its continuous blood glucose monitoring (CBGM) technology.  The IDE submission marks a significant milestone in advancing the company’s fully implantable monitoring system to the next stage of clinical assessment, pending FDA review and approval.

The technology aims to offer an option for ongoing blood glucose measurement.This implantable device is designed to deliver real-time, blood-based data without requiring an on-body wearable, and the company believes it may address certain needs for people with diabetes during daily activities.

Glucotrack president and CEO Paul Goode said: “Submission of our IDE represents meaningful progress in the development of our CBGM technology and underscores our commitment to helping people with diabetes live more fully.  “Our fully implantable solution is designed to be comfortable and discreet so that people can focus on their daily lives – allowing them to work, exercise, sleep, and socialise without the disruption of frequent sensor changes, visible wearables, or reordering supplies.

Read more: Glucotrack seeks FDA approval for clinical study of CBGM technology

Biologics and Sunshine Lake Pharma announce FDA Approval of LANGLARA™ an Interchangeable Biosimilar of Lantus® (insulin glargine)

Lannett Company, Inc., Lanexa Biologics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lannett, and Sunshine Lake Pharma today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved LANGLARA™ (insulin glargine-aldy), as a biosimilar to Lantus® (insulin glargine), for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The FDA has determined that LANGLARA is interchangeable with the reference drug, enabling pharmacists to substitute LANGLARA for Lantus without prescriber intervention in states that permit such substitution.

The approval for LANGLARA was based on a comprehensive analytical, preclinical and clinical program which confirmed the PK/PD, efficacy, safety profile and immunogenicity of LANGLARA as compared to Lantus in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

“Often, the greatest barrier to care for patients living with diabetes is the cost or the availability of the medicine itself. Upon the launch of LANGLARA, supported by the tremendous manufacturing scale of our partner, patients will have expanded access to a safe, affordable and available treatment option. In fact, the scale required to support this medicine is the very reason so few insulin manufacturers exist,” stated Tim Crew, CEO of Lannett. “Moreover, earning the interchangeability designation is critical for patient access and reflects the extraordinary quality and scientific rigor of both Lannett and our partner Sunshine Lake Pharma. Lannett and Lanexa Biologics intend to pursue broad formulary placement across all commercial channels, to make this medicine accessible for all who need it.”

According to Scott Strumello, “Depending on if you count different NDC numbers of the same molecule as genuinely separate products or not, with this copy of the basal insulin Lantus, there are now nine (9) different glargine products for sale in the U.S. market, including several sold at prices which are capped with a MaxRP (Maximum Retail Price).”  Read more on his blog post: FDA Approves Yet Another Glargine Insulin Biosimilar from Lannett Company/HEC

Read more: Biologics and Sunshine Lake Pharma announce FDA Approval of LANGLARA™ an Interchangeable Biosimilar of Lantus® (insulin glargine)

Diabetes-related complications: an evolving spectrum, an editorial from TheLancet.com, 30 April 2026.

The burden of diabetes-related complications continues to rise globally, exerting a huge toll on individuals, health-care systems, and economies, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). This trend is driven largely by the changing epidemiological landscape of diabetes (increasing prevalence, earlier age at diagnosis, longer disease duration, and declining mortality—particularly in high-income countries—resulting in increased life expectancy), the parallel rise in obesity pre valence, and an ageing population. As people with diabetes live longer, the spectrum of diabetes-related complications has expanded beyond traditional microvascular (ie, diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy) and macrovascular (ie, myocardial infarction, stroke, and peripheral artery disease) complications. Newly recognised complications of diabetes include those linked to obesity (eg, metabolic liver disease and obstructive sleep apnoea) and age-related complications (eg, infections, cancer, dementia, and frailty).

There has also been a shift in the patterns of diabetes-related complications. Public health initiatives over recent decades targeting lifestyle modifications (eg, smoking cessation and consumption of low-cholesterol and low-sodium diets), together with more effective and intensive management of hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, and hyperglycaemia, have contributed to declining all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in people with and without diabetes. As cardiovascular mortality has fallen, cardiovascular disease can no longer be regarded as the universally dominant cause of death in people with diabetes.

As the spectrum of diabetes complications continues to evolve, so too must diabetes care. Strategies should include prioritising earlier diagnosis of diabetes through screening and treatment initiation based on complications risk. A recent study reporting that 10% of macrovascular complications and diabetic retinopathy are attributable to physical inactivity highlights the need for a greater focus on risk factor control for complications.

Read more: Diabetes-related complications: an evolving spectrum

Mini-Dosing Glucagon by Marissa Town for ChildrenWithDiabetes.com, 6 May 2026.

Using glucagon for low blood sugars outside of emergency situations became relatively common starting in the early 2000s. Now that there are newer options for glucagon, there is a new way to do mini-dose glucagon. The only currently available glucagon that allows mini-dosing (also called micro-dosing) is the GVoke Kit. This kit includes a vial of pre-mixed glucagon, unlike past versions, and a syringe. The syringe is designed for emergency use, which means it has a longer needle for injecting into the muscle. If you’re using this kit for a mini-dose, you will want to draw it out with an insulin syringe for injecting it into your body.

Dosing: Glucagon typically comes in a 1 mg dose, while GVoke is also available in a 0.5 mg dose for younger or more sensitive folks. 
Side Effects: Typically, there are fewer side effects with mini-dose glucagon treatments than with a full glucagon dose. Full rescue glucagon may cause nausea, vomiting, headache, and issues at the injection site.

It’s not just for emergencies. It’s another tool in your diabetes toolkit.

Read more: Mini-Dosing Glucagon

The Most Dangerous Place for Your Diabetes Might Be the Hospital by Derek Brandt for DiabetesTechnologyNews on LinkedIn, 1 May 2026.

Imagine living with a condition where a few units of the wrong drug can literally kill you in hours – and then handing over all control to a hospital that proudly announces: “Don’t worry, we’ve dealt with diabetes before.”

WAY Off-Topic … but might we see these in FUTURE diabetes technologies?

In 1985, the Innovative Design Fund placed an ad in Scientific American offering up to $10,000 to support clever prototypes for clothing, home decor, and textiles. William Freeman Ph.D., then an electrical engineer at Polaroid and now an MIT professor, saw it and submitted a novel idea: a three-sided zipper. Instead of fastening pants, it’d be like a switch that seamlessly flipped chairs, tents, and purses between soft and rigid states, making them easier to pack and put together.

His proposal was rejected, but Freeman patented his prototype and stored it in his garage in the hopes it might come in handy one day.Nearly 40 years later, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers wanted to revive the project to create items with “tunable stiffness.” Prior attempts to adjust that weren’t easily reversible or required manual assembly, so CSAIL built an automated design tool and adaptable fastener called the “Y-zipper.” The scientists’ software program helps users customize three-sided zippers, which it then builds on its own in a 3D printer using plastics. These devices can be attached or embedded into camping equipment, medical gear, robots, and art installations for more convenient assembly.

“A regular zipper is great for closing up flat objects, like a jacket, but Freeman ideated something more dynamic. Using current fabrication technology, his mechanism can transform more complex items,” says MIT postdoc and CSAIL researcher Jiaji Li, who is a lead author on an open-access paper presenting the project. “We’ve developed a process that builds objects you can rapidly shift from flexible to rigid, and you can be confident they’ll work in the real world.”

Read more: After a 40-year wait, technology finally enables three-sided zipper design