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Friday, May 22, 2015

Saying Goodbye To The Snap - SIGH.

Due to being sidelined with bronchitis, laryngitis and trechitis - I’m behind incredibly behind on posting about many things - And I'm sorry for that, but I was REALLY sick.  
Now I’m scrambling to play catch up now that the second round of antibiotics and the first round of steroids have kicked in. 
Here are my thoughts on Asante shutting their doors and the Snap going the way of the Deltec Cozmo. 
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I was leaving the BD Thought Leader event (more on that VERY SOON,) last Friday afternoon when I first heard the rumblings that Asante, makers of The Snap insulin pump had closed its doors - and my heart broke. 
My heart broke for the people who worked at Asante ( I was a member of their Patient Advisory Board,) and knew many of the employees by name - I’d worked with them and and I know that they had people with diabetes interests at heart. 

And now those amazing people have lost their jobs and we have lost D Advocates on the industry side -and we can't afford to lose any D Advocates.
And my heart broke for people with diabetes  - those who wore the Snap and whose lives were changed in a positive way because of The Snap.  And those who were considering and eager to trial their pump, but who have lost that opportunity forever.  
Snap’s trial allowed people to trial their pump for 1 month, without any cost to the person with diabetes - no other insulin pump company offered or offers such a trial - And I don't understand why. Christ, even car dealers allow for test drives.

And my heart breaks because another incredible insulin pump option was taken away from us - and as people living with diabetes, we need all the options we can get. 
Life and life with diabetes is all about choices (and using our collective diabetes voices,) when it comes to the treatment(s) that work best for us. “Your Diabetes May Vary,” and choices are KEY.

 And I believe that more choices in diabetes technology makes all companies work harder re: tech advancements that benefit all of us living with diabetes. 

 I loved The Snap pump and I saw my numbers (both my blood sugars and my daily insulin requirements went down,) improve during my 7 weeks on the Snap - And had my insurance company been a bit more liberal in their coverage, I would have committed to it. 
I hate that Asante couldn’t get the funding they needed to go public and pulled their IPO plans off the table in March and I hate that partnership opportunities fell through. Mike Hoskins over at DiabetesMine covers The Snap’s demise in detail, HERE and Christel over at a TheperfectD.com writes eloquently on the subject and about her heart snapping in two, HERE. 

I hate that we have one less diabetes option in our arsenal and that those who wore the Snap are forced to find other options and I hate that it was because of money.
If patients could believe in a product, why couldn't industry step up to the plate? 

Some pump companies are stepping up to the plate and offering “official Snap Replacement Programs.”




As I hear of more, I'll update the list~
But for now I'm bummed out, BIG TIME.

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1 comment:

  1. StephenSMay 22, 2015 at 8:56 PM

    Kelly, I'm bummed out too. You know how eager I was to go to the Snap when they rolled out a Novolog option. It's been a week, and I'm still sad.

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