Following in Banting's footsteps or straying from the path? Observations from contemporary diabetes innovation

Connor Leadley; Ananta Addala; Juliet Berkeley; Hamish Crocket; Elizabeth A Davis; Niranjala Hewapathirana; Sufyan Hussain; Rayhan Lal; Kate Lomax; Thomas Wilkinson; Martin de Bock; Marie-Anne Burckhardt

doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1270517

Following in Banting's footsteps or straying from the path? Observations from contemporary diabetes innovation

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Nov 14:14:1270517. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1270517. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Connor Leadley¹, Ananta Addala^{2

3}, Juliet Berkeley⁴, Hamish Crocket⁵, Elizabeth A Davis^{6

7

8}, Niranjala Hewapathirana^{4

9}, Sufyan Hussain^{10

11

12}, Rayhan Lal^{2

3

13}, Kate Lomax^{6

7}, Thomas Wilkinson¹, Martin de Bock¹, Marie-Anne Burckhardt^{14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
² Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
³ Stanford Diabetes Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
⁴ Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Te Whatu Ora Waitaha, Christchurch, New Zealand.
⁵ Te Huataki Waiora School of Health, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
⁶ Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Perth Children's Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁷ Children's Diabetes Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁸ Division of Pediatrics within the Medical School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁹ Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Guy's & St Thomas' National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
¹¹ Department of Diabetes, School of Cardiovascular, Metabolic Medicine and Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹² Institute of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Obesity, King's Health Partners, London, United Kingdom.
¹³ Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
¹⁴ Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology, University Children's Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.
¹⁵ Department of Clinical Research, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

While advancements in the treatment of diabetes continue to rapidly evolve, many of the newer technologies have financial barriers to care, opposing the egalitarian ethos of Banting who sold his patent on insulin for a nominal cost to allow it to be made widely available. Inequity in access to new therapies drives disparity in diabetes burden with potential for these gaps to widen in the future. The 2023 International Conference on Advanced Technologies and Treatments of Diabetes (ATTD) presented ground-breaking and current research in diabetes technology. Oral presentations of the ATTD conference 2023 were analyzed to describe what percentage of speakers discussed equity in their talks. Overall, less than a quarter of presenters discussed equity, though there was regional variation. To ensure that diabetes technologies reduce disparity and improve outcomes, we encourage future speakers at diabetes (technology) conferences to consider equity of diabetes care and incorporate this into their presentations.

Keywords: conference; diabetes technology; equity; type 1 diabetes; type 2 diabetes.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Diabetes Mellitus* / therapy
Humans
Insulin

Substances

Insulin

Grants and funding

K23 DK122017/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/United States