European consortium develops artificial pancreas

Led by the Academic Medical Centre, a European consortium (AP@home) is going to develop an artificial pancreas for patients suffering from diabetes type 1. The device will keep track of the values of glucose in the blood and, when needed, will administer insulin. As a result, the patient will experience a less fluctuating blood sugar level, and thus will develop less health problems and complications. The European Commission will finance the project with 10.5 million euros in context of the Framework Programme 7.

AP@home is a cooperation between 7 academical institutes and 5 industrial partners: the Universities of Cambridge, the Academic Medical Centres of Amsterdam and Montpellier, the Medical University of Graz, EPF Lausanne, the Profil Institut für Stoffwechselforschung GmbH, Triteq Ltd, Sensile Medical AG, STMicroelectronics and 4a engineering GmbH. They will work on the project for 4 years.

For this project the consortium will develop a special software with mathematical algorithms. Eventually, the effect of the artificial pancreas will be compared to that of the standard insulin injections administered by the diabetes patients, in a multinational controlled study. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life in patients with diabetes type 1 and, in the long-term, reduce the costs for the healtcare.

Source: Academic Medical Centre (in Dutch)