5 Apr 2025

More funding for gold standard diabetes tech

From Saturday Morning, 7:41 am on 5 April 2025
Automated insulin delivery technology.

Automated insulin delivery technology. Photo: Supplied / Ben Wheeler

Professor Ben Wheeler.

Professor Ben Wheeler. Photo: Supplied / Ben Wheeler

Every day our bodies automatically makes hundreds of decisions that we are completely unaware of. But for those suffering from diabetes, it's a different story.

PHARMAC has expanded funding for gold standard technology that will drastically reduce the number of decisions those with type 1 diabetes have to make.

Type 1 diabetes affects up to 25,000 people in Aotearoa, with loss of up to 20 years life expectancy reported, especially in those diagnosed at a young age, and of Māori/Pacific ethnicity. 

Ben Wheeler is a professor at the University of Otago's Department of Women and Children's Health.

He has been awarded $1.4 million from the Health Research Council to evaluate a model of delivery that will provide better access to the tech for all who need it.