Cellnovo finally arrives

It’s November and Cellnovo, the latest insulin pump supplier in Australia, has finally started supplying pumps. Their consumable products appeared on the NDSS register in an update on the 1st of November, which means that users can now start using their products. As I wrote last month, Cellnovo had initially expected to have this available on the 1st of October, so it’s good to see that it did eventually come through.

I don’t think the Cellnovo pump is going to suit me personally, but it’s good to see more options appear for pumpers. Currently the choices for new pumps in Australia (usually through private health insurance) are the Cellnovo, the Animas Vibe, Medtronic 640G, and Accu-Chek Spirit Combo. It’s been quite a while since the last change to that list, and some of those pump designs are starting to look a bit long in the tooth. Choice is definitely a good thing for the consumer!

Note that the Animas Vibe is still a viable option for many Australian customers, despite Animas closing down in the US last month. Sales and support will continue here for a long time, although it seems “unlikely” that any updates to the Animas product line will appear.

The Dana IIS and R pumps have been available previously, and we’re hoping that the new Dana RS will be made available in Australia in the near future. That’s a pump that’s especially interesting for some loopers, as it’s Bluetooth-enabled and is already supported by the AndroidAPS loop. The Cellnovo also uses Bluetooth to communicate with its controller, so it’s possible that looping support may eventually appear for it too. Looping support will hopefully appear for some of the other pumps soon too.

And it looks like some other pumps may also appear on the Australian market in 2018. Renza over at Diabetogenic reported from September’s EASD in Lisbon about some of the possibilities.

We continue to live in interesting times!