Our resource hub is home to a wealth of articles, stories and videos about managing and living with type 1 diabetes.
Place your order for our free information packs that support adults and children who have been recently diagnosed.
Our researchers are working on different ways to develop a cure for type 1 diabetes - from growing insulin-producing beta cells in labs to hacking the immune system.
Learn about the technologies that can deliver insulin automatically when needed. And discover the next generation of insulins that are currently being developed.
You could win a cash prize of up to £25,000 when you play the Breakthrough T1D lottery. As well as the chance to win great prizes, you’ll also help fund our research to find a cure for type 1 diabetes.
Your donations help support people living with type 1 diabetes today and fund the best treatment and cure research, no matter where in the world it takes place.
The announcement is the biggest treatment breakthrough for type 1 diabetes since the discovery of insulin.
Join our Virtual Triathlon Challenge and swim, cycle and run while raising money to fund Breakthrough T1D’s life-changing type 1 research.
We provide a wealth of information and free resources to help you support and empower your patients or students.
Take our free course for schools to learn more about supporting pupils with type 1 diabetes in educational settings.
JDRF has now rebranded to Breakthrough T1D. Our name has changed, our mission has not.
Home > Knowledge & support > Resource hub > The smart pen era is here
Over time as clinicians, we’ve got a lot better at learning about the burden of living with type 1 diabetes. Often it can feel like you’re juggling or spinning plates and my theory is always that if we can make things easier for people with type 1, then we should.
Since the COVID pandemic, we’ve been forced into a position where fewer face-to-face appointments are available. Care is now being delivered wholly, or in part, through virtual or telephone consultations which can make it difficult to have a data-driven consultation.
We need to have more options available so that we can tailor the care and technology that we’re providing.
My view is that data is power. Without the insulin data, and even with just the glucose data, we’re only getting half the story.
We want to be able to see all of your data on one system. One potential solution is connected pens or smart pens. What these do is allow insulin dosing information to be recorded which is then stored in the pen and can be uploaded to an online system via apps like Glooko, facilitating review in the cloud.
Or, if you turn up to clinic with your pen, we can download the data and together review the insulin that you’ve been taking. It bridges a gap between injections and pump for people who are on that journey through technology.
So what are we looking for as your healthcare teams when we’re looking at these smart pens? We want them to be easy to set up, very user-friendly. We want you to be able to get your hands on them and use them with minimum training.
NovoPen® 6 is the one that we have available at the moment, and NovoPen Echo Plus® is the paediatric half unit. But there are other examples that are coming to market soon.
You may see Sanofi Smart Cap in the next year. This is a cap that goes on to a regular disposable pen, which will record the dose of insulin taken and the data can be downloaded. Medtronic’s InPen™ will be compatible with multiple types of insulin and will come with an app that will be able to do some more sophisticated calculations. And you may also see the Tempo Smart Button™, a cap that attaches to a bespoke disposable pen.
For me, connected pens are a really simple means to provide additional support to anyone using injections and to facilitate data-driven consultations and personal reflections.
We want to get these devices into the hands of people who need them, beyond social and economic deprivation barriers. But we don’t want to widen any digital divide that might exist.
So, we still need to consider the impact on those who cannot or do not want to access these sorts of technologies and how we can reach them.
Smart insulin pens work like normal insulin pens but connect to an app, which records how much insulin you’ve taken and when.
There are many different tools available to help you manage your type 1 diabetes. Find out what's available and what may work for you.
Don’t miss out on the latest research, inspiring stories, tech news, upcoming events, and handy information on living well with type 1. Join us now and receive it all straight to your inbox.
It’s thanks to your dedication that we have funded great progress in type 1 cure, treatment and prevention research. Help us to continue our vital research.