As I have previously discussed, I am participating in the Protégé Encore study, which is an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody clinical trial that is trying to prove the effectiveness of an investigational drug called teplizumab.  We all know that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition where autoantibodies are attacking and killing off...

Summer has disappeared.   We left Asia in mid-July with so much enthusiasm for plans in the Northeastern US, and now, it’s hard to fathom how Labor Day could possibly be one week away.  Very soon, everyone will be mourning the end of summer, especially children who must return to those newly waxed floors in their classroom halls...

Photo credit: Redvers On Monday, my daily life, my career path, and my work-related goals will change substantially. You see, Friday was my last day working at an exceptional start-up here in San Diego. (I love you guys. I will miss you all!) (Parenthetical, part 2: anyone software engineers out there want to work at a fabulous, fast-moving...

On Monday, August 9th, the Archives of Internal Medicine published a ten-year study of over ten-thousand individuals that showed that waist circumference, even independent of body mass index (BMI), is directly correlated with higher rates of death. Now, this is hardly new news, but the study, covered as it was by the Washington Post,...

The diabetic information superhighway has been trafficked lately by news of GlaxoSmithKline’s Avandia, and the recent FDA declaration that the once-promising drug may be more dangerous than previously thought, and may substantially increase the risk of heart problems for patients. Concern about new drugs is hardly novel, but amidst...

In my last post I discussed the anatomy of the eye. Keep this in mind as we begin to consider what diabetes does to this anatomy. Remember that the most important aspect of diabetes is high blood sugar. This is the source of all complications that will make life so miserable down the line. The two major issues with glucose, as I have...

Note to self: when someone asks you to write a book chapter…run. I do not think I have absorbed so much new information in such a short time since my neurophysiology class back in grad school (or pulled so many late night writing sessions). The chapter has the tremendously exciting title: “Druggable Targets and Therapeutics for Diseases...

Where I Left Off In the last installment of my symlin saga, I had found that Symlin, Amlyn Pharmaceutical‘s synthetic amylin, helped slow gastric emptying and reduce post-prandial spikes. I also found that Symlin had to be injected subcutaneously, either with the Symlin Pen or from a second pump, and that allegedly, Symlin and insulin...

One of the biggest takeaways for me from the ADA Scientific Sessions was that I needed to learn about the magic drug everyone was talking about, Symlin. So, over the past week, I’ve been doing some reading, and this is what I’ve found: Symlin (also known by the generic name pramlintide acetate) is Amylin Pharmaceutical‘s...

Last month I wrote about the rising impact of health social media. Even suggesting it may be making doctors irrelevant. While health care providers appear slow to realize this-and take advantage of social media–I know one pharmaceutical company that is not. Roche. I just returned from Roche’s second annual social media...