New Orleans based Richard Twiggs Jr. has undertaken many different projects with 3D printing in the past, ranging form a venture with ThinkPrint3D, the second 3D print bureau in Louisiana, to 3D printing hand prostheses, to working on industrial prototypes of all kinds through his own Unchained Thought project. This next one, though, might be his greatest 3D printing project yet: a minuscule, affordable and far more efficient diabetes pump.
If everything goes as planned it could be a game changer but to find out we will have to wait a while longer. Twiggs has gathered the enthusiasm of many potential partners both at a university and private level even before starting the actual prototyping phase. He believes that 3D printing the prototype is the natural conclusion of the studies he conducted.
Like many other great ideas, that of developing a diabetes pump came from assessing a need around him and identifying a solution. “My girlfriend suffers from type A Diabetes as do many of my friends’ relatives”, Twiggs told me. “It was so prevalent in my life that I decided to do something about it knowing that the new possibilities offered by 3D printing in terms of prototyping, which make it possible even for one person to build products that would have previously cost thousands of dollars.”
As advanced as they are, current leading technologies, such as those from Medtronic, are very expensive and not particularly comfortable as they depend on needles going through the skin to deliver the insulin. Twiggs’ pump would adopt another technology recently developed by King’s College in a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: an injection-free vaccination kit.
It is a small, round disc with many micro sugar needles that can deliver the drug without piercing the skin. “We would extend the needles’ length just slightly but would still be able to continue pumping the insulin as needed, without causing scar tissue”. By using this system Twiggs calculates that the pump would have a two weeks life expectancy, which is far longer than the current models.
That’s not all either. Although Twiggs’ design only measures 2.5 cm in width by 0.6 cm in height he believes he has room enough within it to fit both the diabetes pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which means a single device would be able to both administer the insulin and continuously monitor the blood sugar levels.
It seems that Twiggs has thought out every relevant aspect, even the possibility of developing personalized 3D printed versions after going into production. Although it has not yet been prototyped and thus not patented, Twiggs is not afraid some one might take his idea.
“If someone can take this idea and go into production before me they are most welcome. I doubt they will be able to because I have studied the technology necessary very accurately and for a very long time,” he told me. “I am not in this for the money but to make people’s lives better.”
