Diabetes Research Institute: Testing ground for new technology and medicine
Mills-Peninsula has joined the quest to improve the lives of people with diabetes by creating a research institute dedicated to helping bring new technology, products and medicines to market.
Diabetes affects about six percent of the U.S. population, and the numbers are growing, according to the American Diabetes Association. That's why Peninsula residents Dorothy L. and James E. Frank decided to help David. C. Klonoff, M.D., an internist who specializes in endocrinology, establish the institute. The Franks, for whom the Institute is named, donated $1 million in startup costs and pledged another $2 million in support with a grant that matches community gifts dollar-for-dollar.
"We will work with academicians, government agencies and private industry to accelerate the development of new treatments for diabetes," Dr. Klonoff, the institute' medical director, said. People who participate in our studies will have access to advanced medical instruments, measuring devices and medications before these products are available to the public. The results of our research should help manufacturers improve their products.
"There is an increasing number of people with diabetes in the United States and especially in San Mateo County," according to Dr. Klonoff, who also edits a quarterly peer review medical journal, Diabetes, Technology and Therapeutics.
"This disease frequently affects people over 65, and African-Americans and Hispanics also are at higher risk. By working to develop new products and treatments, we hope to improve the quality of life for those with the disease."
One of the early projects planned for the institute is testing of an artificial pancreas currently in development, Dr. Klonoff said. This system will link an automatic glucose measurement sensor with an insulin delivery system by translating blood sugar levels into proper doses of continuously delivered insulin.
The institute also will explore: 1) insulin-sensitizing agents that lower blood sugar levels and decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease; 2) medications that treat elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and other complications associated with diabetes; 3) insulin that can be inhaled instead of injected; 4) new insulins which enter the blood stream at differing rates; 5) non-invasive and minimally invasive glucose monitors; and 6) portable devices for measuring Hemoglobin A1c and other chemicals that reflect a person's long-term control of diabetes.
The Diabetes Research Institute also will collaborate with other health care organizations to identify genes for diabetes and to enroll individuals at high-risk for developing diabetes into preventive trials, the physician said.
In addition to conducting research, the institute will sponsor an annual symposium for people with diabetes and their families, the first of which is "Diabetes 2001!," on May 19 (see sidebar), and a Technology Meeting for physicins, clinicians and technologists at the San Francisco Airport Marriott in November.
"With Mills-Peninsula's proximity to Silicon Valley, where technological advances targeting diabetes are being developed, we offer an ideal site for product development," Dr. Klonoff says.
"With Mills-Peninsula's proximity to Silicon Valley, where technological advances targeting diabetes are being developed, we offer an ideal site for product testing," Dr. Klonoff says. With that in mind, he anticipates that Mills-Peninsula will become a leading provider of diabetes care in the Bay Area, offering people new methods of treating, monitoring, diagnosing and preventing diabetes.
For more information about how to participate in studies conducted at the Institute, contact Dr. Klonoff at 650-696-4260. For information about how you can participate in the Franks' dollar-for-dollar challenge, contact Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation, 650-696-4990.