[trampypizza]

Can you imagine how much money big pharma could make if they pulled their fingers out and actually created and supported a solution?

If a bunch of parents on the internet can hack it together, it's hardly impossible (I'm not trying to detract from the awesome work these people have done, but my point is that they have nowhere near the same kind of resources as pharmaceutical companies).

As a Type 1 Diabetic it's really frustrating seeing how stagnant treatment technology is.

[DavideNL]

> If a bunch of parents on the internet can hack it together

I can imagine people will think this after reading this article, but in my opinion this is not how it is in reality - which is why this article is very poorly written/exaggerated. The article presents this comparison as black & white: DIY = simple and cheap, whereas pharmaceutical companies = difficult and expensive. The reality however, is not black and white.

In a nutshell: You and me can drive around in a car without wearing seat belts our entire life and in the end, this article would say "see nothing terrible happened, it's been completely safe to drive around and seat belts are ridiculous".

It all comes down to statistics, and i believe that the people doing this DIY stuff are unaware of the risks they are taking.

[trampypizza]

I agree with you, and frankly, hacking something together on your own or in a small group is not necessarily going to produce a product that you can then sell, especially considering the potential ramifications due to faults or misconfigurations, specially if you start using the data to automatically adjust your dosages. I suppose what could be nice is if the manufacturers could open up roads to hacking your own gear, but I think that this is highly unlikely as creating an 'official' route to 'mod' is going to open you up to all kinds of liability.

I get frustrated by the lack of visible innovation in diabetes treatment technology, because in most other areas of our lives we are surrounded by tech which is constantly innovating. Unfortunately it's a reality that if you are designing systems and technology that manage critical functions then they are going to take a long time to develop, let alone test, distribute, and support.