Abigail Klein Leichman
April 12, 2015, Updated April 7, 2015

DreaMed Diabetes, a Petah Tikva-based developer of diabetes treatment and management solutions, has signed an exclusive worldwide development and license agreement with Medtronic for the development and marketing of products incorporating DreaMed’s MD-Logic Artificial Pancreas algorithm in Medtronic’s insulin pumps.

In addition, Medtronic has made a $2 million investment in DreaMed.

DreaMed Diabetes’ CE-approved GlucoSitter, based on the MD-Logic Artificial Pancreas algorithm, is a fully automated artificial pancreas for controlling glucose levels. The software continuously monitors glucose levels, and defines precisely when and how to adjust insulin levels.

ISRAEL21c first reported on this innovation in 2013, when the company also was called MD-Logic. DreaMed was launched in 2014, following successful published trials of MD-Logic’s closed-loop system to improve metabolic control for people with diabetes. It was tested in randomized, multi-center, multinational, controlled clinical trials in hospitals, diabetes camps and home settings on more than 220 patients.

“We are very excited that only one year since inception, we have signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Medtronic, the world leading medical device company,” said Dr. Moshe Phillip, chairman and chief scientific officer of DreaMed Diabetes, and director of the Institute for Endocrinology and Diabetes at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Israel.

Insulin-dependent diabetes is an enormous and growing global health problem affecting more than 90 million people worldwide. Glucose control is essential in avoiding the devastating complications of diabetes, yet current methods of insulin therapy are not always effective. Therefore, the global market for products to manage diabetes currently stands at $41 billion.

Medtronic VP Alejandro Galindo added, “We believe that a fully automated artificial pancreas will provide greater freedom and better health for many people with diabetes by eliminating some of the burden of glucose management. Collaboration with DreaMed Diabetes and researchers worldwide will allow us to continue to advance more quickly toward a commercially available closed loop system.”

More on Medical devices