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Event Report
The latest Guild event Diabetes – The Latest Medical & Marketing Progress took place on Tuesday November 10th in the elegant surroundings of the Royal Society of Medicine’s Chandos House. We were delighted that our distinguished speakers John Pickup, Professor of Diabetes and Metabolism, King’s College London, and Richard Lane, OBE, President of Diabetes UK were able to spare the time to speak to us so close to World Diabetes Day.
Professor Pickup began by admitting that diabetes is always in the news – and the news was usually bad, because diabetes is increasingly common, it is costly and, most of all, it is serious. On this occasion, though, he wanted to tell us the good news about diabetes. ‘There are real reasons why we should be happy about the progress we are making,’ he said. This progress includes better delivery of insulin, better monitoring which , together, promise to provide the patient with an ‘artificial pancreas’. John is a real expert in this area – for he developed one of the first insulin pumps in the 1970s and was able to describe the remarkable steps in the evolution of this device towards the latest ‘patch’ pumps which are controlled remotely. The new technology will allow for continuous and more accurate monitoring and that should have a dramatic impact on complications such as diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in the under-65s in the Western World. Nanotechnology is likely to play a leading role in the monitoring and treatment of diabetes in the future, he continued. For instance, islet cells may perform better if they are encapsulated in nanofilms.
On type 2 diabetes, John explained that it is his view that it may one of several chronic diseases, including heart disease and depression, that are caused by low grade inflammation. Stress of various kinds can give rise to this kind of inflammation – with obesity and lack of exercise possibly being a major element in this stress. Inflammation is a natural response of the body to a threat or stress, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that it has its dark side. ‘ In the long term, inflammation leads to disease – not repair,’ he said. ‘Many 21st century disease are manifestations of chronic low grade inflammation.’
The notion that inflammation is important in diabetes was new to many of us, I think, but the evidence is mounting. It opens up the prospect of perhaps using anti-inflammatory drugs to prevent or treat diabetes and one of these, a dimer of aspirin, is already being tested.
Then Richard Lane gave an inspiring account of his personal experience with type 1 diabetes. He was forced to give up work as an accountant because of poor health in 2003 but is now involved in two growing companies and has a busy life as President of Diabetes UK (and has spoken about diabetes on over 160 occasions all over the UK). He attributes this remarkable turnaround to the receipt of three islet transplants at Kings College Hospital between September 2004 and January 2005. He thus became the first type 1 diabetic in the UK to be able to stop taking insulin. This has transformed the lives of Richard and his family – they no longer have to worry about terrifying ‘hypos’ and comas.
Richard paid a warm tribute to Diabetes UK for funding the research that has made islet transplantation a reality, to Professor James Shapiro for developing it, and to Professor Stephanie Amiel and Professor Nigel Heaton of King’s College for providing it and for their superb care. ‘I am very proud of what has happened to me,’ he said. He then described some of Diabetes UK’s plans. It is the charity’s 75th anniversary and they plan to set up a professorial Chair dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes as their goal is a ‘world without diabetes’. They are also planning to award medals to those people who have been on insulin for 50 years or more – because they have shown, by example, that diabetes need not control your life. Finally, he urged everyone to support Diabetes UK’s new Get Serious campaign, which aims to prioritise diabetes as a top public health challenge (for more, see www.diabetes.org.uk)
After questions, around 40 Guild members, friends and associates, enjoyed networking with the speakers over drinks and a delicious buffer supper.
The Guild of Health Writers thanks NOVO NORDISK for the generous sponsorship of this event, and would like to state that this seminar was an independent event. In accordance with its objectives, the Guild aims to provide a balanced, non-partisan forum for discussion and does not endorse any commercial products or systems.
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