Insulin pen with timer helps diabetics remember to take insulin on time

15 September 2011

A new product in the management of insulin-dependent diabetes offers patients significant relief through an incorporated timer that tells them how long it’s been since their last insulin injection.

Called Timesulin, this innovative ‘smart cap’ marks the first major step forward from the insulin pens that have been a feature of diabetes management since their release twenty years ago.

Timesulin greatly reduces the chances of missed or accidental double dose — a major concern for health care practitioners and patients alike. That’s why the product has already generated excitement amongst established names in the diabetes field in Europe, including Dr Åke Sjöholm, Chief of the Diabetes Research Unit at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

“Due to the habitual nature of insulin administration patients often forget whether or not they had injected their insulin dose,” Dr Sjöholm noted. “We regard this as a major challenge in managing diabetes and welcome the timely arrival of an innovative solution like Timesulin.”

 The solution originated from the creators’ own familiarity with the problem. Timesulin is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs who identified the need to provide a daily solution to people living with diabetes that was simple, safe, easy to use and would improve life balance.

“The idea was born out of my own frustration as a Type 1 diabetic of over 25 years,” said Timesulin co-founder John Sjölund. “I manage my insulin injections with insulin pens and know all too well that a missed shot leads to raised blood sugar levels and causes drowsiness and body aches. At the same time, an accidental double dose has the opposite effect: blood sugar levels plummet, bringing on sweats and it can even cause a severe long & short term health complications. But mostly, it causes daily anxiety. I hate that. People with diabetes need a simpler way of knowing if they took their insulin, and when.”

“This is a very common problem: most insulin-dependent patients have at some point missed a dose or taken a double dose, specifically because they weren’t sure when they took their last shot,” said John Grumitt, Vice Chair of the Diabetes UK Board of Trustees.  “A simple solution, like the one Timesulin offers, should ease the daily anxiety for many people living with diabetes.”

“I know the value of identifying market needs and offering the right solution at the right time,” said Timesulin co-founder Andreas Sjölund. Andreas helped revolutionise Internet telephony and online collaboration as co-creator and first product manager of Skype, which now has more than 700 million users from around the world.

Also on the team is co-founder and Timesulin CTO, Marcel Botha, who before Timesulin developed a social networking tool for dogs called Sniftag. Marcel was originally a product engineer with MIT’s Media Lab in Boston. Timesulin carries the CE mark, works with all major insulin pens, requires no change in habit and works straight out of the package without any programming required.